How The Moon Touches The Sky
by if in another life
Summary: A series of unconnected oneshots using the prompts posted on rayllum-week-and-month tumblr.
1. Day 1: Beach Day

Callum's legs _burned_.

They'd been travelling to return Zym for over a month, having crossed into Xadia a couple of weeks previously. He'd thought his legs had adapted to constant days of walking and, sure, it had become easier. But then they'd reached the Xadian mountains and, _oh boy_, Callum's body was not prepared - the inclined walking, along with the increase in temperature, had him out of breath most days.

It was made all the more noticeable with the way Rayla was acting. Ever since they'd made it past Sol Regem, _something_ had been off about the way she was interacting with him. The encounter with the Archdragon had shaken Callum... the way his raspy, ancient tones raked through his head - Callum had never felt anything like it. But Rayla seemed to have had an entire conversation with Sol Regem that he'd had no part of. As they travelled through Katolis to reach the border, he and Rayla had grown closer, and they'd started opening up to each other.

At least, that's what Callum had thought. But then, ever since they'd crossed the border, Rayla had been stoney-faced and constantly distracted. Conversation between the two of them had become minimal and was always initiated by Callum. Sometimes it took multiple calls of her name to get her attention.

Callum had known things would change in Xadia, especially with Ezran returning to Katolis, leaving him and Rayla travelling on their own together. But not like _this_. The euphoria of successfully crossing the Moonstone path had evaporated instantly and Rayla's shift in demeanour, coinciding with Ezran's departure, had left Callum feeling so very alone.

It wasn't a feeling he was unfamiliar with; having been heavily acknowledged as a step-prince at home, he'd never quite felt at home. But this felt worse and he couldn't place why. He'd grown used to Rayla's casual… _intimacy_, for lack of a better word. She always seemed to know what kind of comfort or support he needed. Whether that was a casual hand on the shoulder, a hug, some teasing, or some genuine advice, she just seemed to _know_.

And so to have that completely removed, in an entirely foreign environment, whilst his brother (who he'd never been apart from) was returning to their homeland to become _king _at the age of _ten_... Callum was on very tentative footing. He suddenly felt he had no idea about _who _he was travelling with, even though they had felt so close in the Pentarchy.

Callum was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Rayla observing him out of the corner of her eyes as they made their way up the steady incline, with her walking on his right hand side, the tall trees either side of the path they were taking offering some shade from the blaring sun. Callum's thoughts were distracting him from fully acknowledging how heavily he was breathing. Even though he had taken off his blue jacket and was left in his sleeveless maroon top underneath, the jacket tied around his waist, he was still remarkably affected by the temperature.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a weight landing on his right shoulder. He spared the baby Storm Dragon a cursory glance, a half smile, and a light pat on his head, before he returned his gaze forward. They appeared to be reaching the top of the incline and the trees were beginning to disperse as the hill plateaued. The sunlight blazed through the opening, temporarily blinding Callum as he walked through, covering his eyes with his left arm.

"Wow," he gasped, when he was fully able to take in the view in front of him.

They'd arrived at a wide expansive clearing and the terrain under their feet was slowly shifting into sand. In front of Callum was the clearest expanse of water he'd ever seen. They were several feet away from it but he was still able to see the very bottom of the… lake? Callum couldn't tell; it seemed to go on for miles, so far that Callum couldn't see the other side. Yet, it couldn't be the sea - they'd come uphill to reach it.

"It's incredible, isn't it?"

Rayla's voice shocked him out of his daze. He glanced to his right to see her looking at him with the softest expression he'd seen on her face for a while. He smiled softly at her.

"It's stunning, Rayla," Callum breathed lightly, still taken aback.

Rayla turned her gaze out to the lake. "I wanted to make sure you saw this," she admitted, lightly rubbing her upper right arm with her left hand. "We stopped here on our way to Katolis and, even though I didn't want to go anywhere near it, I still admired its beauty."

Callum frowned slightly. He appreciated the gesture, but considering how Rayla had been acting toward him recently, he was also confused by it.

"I know I've been a bit distant since we crossed over," Rayla confessed, turning back to face him with a solemn expression, "Sol Regem told me some… _uncomfortable _things…" She paused for a long time, just looking at Callum, before smiling softly at him. "But I figured we're making good progress and it might be nice to stop in a pleasant location for a while," she continued, gesturing toward the sand that surrounded the lake. "We're well away from any towns, so you'll be safe to freely enjoy the water," she added, with a tint in her voice that Callum didn't miss - nor did he miss how she'd shifted the conversation away from Sol Regem.

But this was the most open and welcoming she'd been since they had entered Xadia. He was going to grab it with both hands.

And literally he did. He grabbed both of Rayla's hands in his own and pulled her toward the water. Zym leapt off his shoulder and flew toward the water's edge, observing his reflection, tilting his head, squeaking at the water.

Rayla, meanwhile, let out a spluttered gasp.

"Callum, what are you-?"

"C'mon Rayla, no better way to tackle that fear of water than here!" he exclaimed, offering her a bright smile over his shoulder. As they reached the water, Callum let go of Rayla's hands to pull off his shoes and roll up his trousers, tugging them up to his knees.

Rayla took the opportunity to back away from the water, shaking her hands in front of her.

"No, no, no, absolutely no!" she said, fixing Callum with a stern glare.

Callum smirked up at her from where he was bent over. "Rayla, it's the clearest, calmest water I've ever seen!" he said joyfully. "I don't know how this fear of yours started and I'm not going to press for an answer." He straightened up and smiled comfortingly at her. "But I understand what an irrational fear is like and what it can do. Know that I'm here to get you through it." He reached out his right hand toward her and brightened his smile. "Baby steps."

Rayla's eyes flicked between his face and his hand multiple times and, although Callum fully expected her to turn him down, he didn't let his smile falter or his hand drop. He wanted to show her that, although he wasn't the strongest or the smartest, he was at least here to support her.

Rayla's face softened at the look on his She shuffled forward and placed her hand in his, marvelling at how wellthey fit together. Callum silently acknowledged the exact same thing and his smile widened. Rayla's eyes met his and she matched his smile, his confidence flowed through her, and, suddenly, Sol Regem's warnings didn't matter. The Archdragon's warnings to distance herself from the human flew out the window. She found herself being struck with all those feelings she'd been fighting ever since they'd crossed the border.

Rayla wanted to get closer to Callum again.

_Screw Sol Regem, and his warnings_, Rayla thought, as she and Callum stood side-by-side at the water's edge.

Rayla turned and met his sideways gaze, and matched the smile he was offering her.

And, with two words from Rayla, all the tension that had hung over the pair for the past week or so dissipated.

"Baby steps."


	2. Day 2: Stargazing

Callum hefted a heavy sigh as he flopped onto the ground.

They'd been walking for _hours _through the dense forest since they'd escaped Sol Regem's grasp and, by the time Rayla had deemed they'd gone far enough, the moon was high in the sky and Callum's legs were in agony.

He was half aware of Rayla smirking at him from across the area she'd designated as a campsite, a small clearing in the dense forest that had seemed to spring out of nowhere the moment they'd left the desert area Sol Regem had occupied. There were tall trees forming the circle that had become their camp, with each tree sporting long, spindly branches and thick foliage. The night sky was visible through the leaves directly above where Callum had flopped down.

He slowly lifted his head up to glare at her, making her smirk widen. She offered him a sarcastic half-shrug.

"I told you not to introduce yourself to the Archdragon of the Sun," she quipped, her lack of sympathy evident in her tone. "But you just _coooooouldn't _help yourself."

"In my defense," Callum replied, lifting a finger and waggling at her, "Zym was the one who wanted us to get acquainted!" He pointed the finger in an accusatory manner at the baby Storm Dragon, who was curled up in a ball under the tree that Rayla had elected to lean on to catch her own breath. Zym lazily lifted his head to glare over at Callum, yapping at him.

Rayla rolled her eyes and crouched down next to Zym, lightly patting his head. "Sure," she said in a sing-song tone of voice. "Blame the baby Storm Dragon for interacting with one of the only other dragons he's ever come across."

Again, she fixed Callum with that adorably infuriating smug smirk of hers (one that Callum absolutelyhated, excuse you for insinuating otherwise.)

Callum threw his arms up in frustration. "Of course you take his side."

Rayla scoffed at him, still petting Zym, much to the Dragon Prince's delight. "There is no side - you should've left me to run after him, not reveal yourself to Sol Regem!" She shot him a playful glare from across the campsite.

Callum huffed and let his head fall back down. A small smile formed on his face as he gazed up at the night sky. Everything seemed so much more radiant in Xadia, just as Rayla had told him on that boat oh so long ago; magic seemed to be a part of everything.

He'd spent, what, three or four hours in Xadia? Most of which had been taken up with running for his life, but still his photographic memory allowed him to close his eyes and picture all the mysterious things he'd spotted as they'd run.

Callum reopened his eyes to observe the sky again; he just couldn't fathom it. In the Pentarchy, the night sky was generally black, with the stars sparkling white. But since crossing into Xadia, the night sky had blossomed into a gradient of dark violets and navy blues. The stars didn't all sparkle white; there were greens and oranges and yellows and reds too - looking up at the night sky was almost like looking at a rainbow. Callum sighed happily. He hadto memorise this to paint when he got the chance.

He could feel eyes on him, so he lifted his head to meet Rayla's eyes. His heart skipped a beat at the look she was giving him. There was a small, warm smile on her face and he'd never seen her eyes look so soft before and a ray of moonlight that streamed through some of the overhanging trees rested delicately on her face, giving her a literal glow.

Suddenly Callum's mouth felt very dry.

"What?" Rayla asked, her smile beginning to turn into _that _smirk again.

A fluttering feeling surfaced in Callum's chest, and he was thoroughly taken aback by how… _breathtaking _Rayla truly was. Looking at her made it feel like his nerve-endings were on fire. He'd felt something like this before, back when he used to notice Claudia, but this was one hundred times more overwhelming.

Callum found he didn't mind one bit. He just smiled at her in response before patting the ground next to him.

"Come look at the stars with me?"

A bemused look crossed Rayla's face, almost as if she could tell that he was thinking something completely different, but she made her way over to him and slumped down at his right-hand side, so close that their shoulders brushed together as she settled.

They stayed in a companionable silence for a while, both simply gazing up at the night sky.

"You were right, you know."

Rayla turned to watch Callum's face, a confused look on her face. He didn't notice, still staring up as he spoke, a small smile playing across his lips.

"I know I usually am," Rayla teased. "But what about specifically this time?"

Callum gestured up to the sky above him. "About Xadia. Everything here is just magical. Even the night sky! Absolutely everythingseems so..."

His words died in his throat as he turned to face Rayla, their faces so close together that their noses brushed. The ray of moonlight had followed her; she harboured still that glow and it took Callum's breath away. He swallowed, heat rising to his face. There was an intense look in Rayla's eyes as she smiled at him.

He had to remember this to draw as well, this soft side of Rayla that he very rarely saw but could already feel himself growing incredibly affectionate toward. He had the other side of Rayla sketched. He needed this side too.

"Seems so what?" she prompted, voice barely above a whisper as her eyes flicked between Callum's eyes and his lips.

His eyes flicked down to her lips briefly, before their eyes connected, sending a spark through them.

"So _radiant_."


	3. Day 3: Confession

Rayla _despised _going to bed angry.

It wasn't a feeling she was unfamiliar with - another thing she owed to her parents' cowardice. Ever since she'd been told about them abandoning their post, leading to the death of Thunder, the Dragon King, she'd spent many a spell attempting to sleep, but just festering in her anger.

This somehow felt worse than that.

They'd been travelling through Xadia for some time now - well over a month - but Rayla had lost track of the time. After a few weeks in the magical continent, something had changed in the dynamic between her and Callum.

He told her that humans called it dating, but neither of them were in any rush to put any labels on it. Their touches had become a lot more frequent and farmore affectionate, and those blossoming feelings Rayla had almost confessed to Callum while he was suffering from the side effects of Dark Magic had only grown.

Even by Moonshadow elf standards, they'd made swift progress through Xadia, and were most likely less than two weeks away from returning Zym.

Rayla had felt borderline euphoric - Callum returned her feelings, and was seemingly becoming an incredible mage. They were _so _close to potentially ending a thousand-year war; things were going so remarkably well.

So of course the universe decided to throw her down against the ground.

It had started with an ambush the previous day. A group of elves who followed the practices of an ancient Startouch elf had found out about their attempt to return the Dragon Prince and end the war. Before disarming and knocking out all the attackers, Rayla had ordered Callum to take Zym and run. Callum had refused and shouted at the Dragon Prince to take flight and hide amongst the trees, to which Zym obliged.

Callum had stood side by side with Rayla and drawn the rune for _fulminis_, something that surprised the elves and allowed Rayla to take the advantage.

The fight hadn't taken very long; Rayla's skill paired alongside Callum's magic (in hindsight, another example of how well they fit together) had completely disorientated the attackers. But it hadn't ended before one of the elves had managed to wound Callum - they had fired an arrow at him and he hadn't had enough time to either dodge or cast a counterspell. The arrow had caught him on his upper right arm. It was fortunately just a superficial wound, but it had been enough to cause him to cry out in anguish.

The cry of pain had caused a red mist to descend on Rayla. She'd unleashed a blaze of furious attacks, leaving the archer battered and bruised, before she'd rushed to Callum's side to tend to his wound. After quickly wrapping the wound in one of the bandages they had in their supplies, Rayla had grabbed Callum's hand, called out to Zym, and the three of them had run for as long as they could, finally arriving at the town they were currently staying in. Rayla had thrown Callum's disguise on him and they'd headed to the first inn they could find, as it was very nearly nighttime.

It was when they'd arrived in their room that the argument had started. Rayla hadn't been able to help herself; the agony and despair she'd felt upon seeing and hearing Callum get hurt were indescribable. She'd yelled at him that, when she told him to run, he had to run; _she _was expendable - the important thing was _him_, a human prince of Katolis, returning the Dragon Prince home. _He _had to survive. Callum had fixed her with a hard glare and argued that they'd started this together and they were absolutely going to finish it together. Rayla had crossed her arms and angrily insisted that, if they were attacked again, he had to take Zym and run, no questions asked.

That was the first time she'd ever seen Callum angry, as well as the last time she'd seen him. He'd stormed out of the room and told her not to follow him.

Now, Rayla was in bed cuddling Zym, sniffling tears back. A couple of hours had passed since Callum had stormed out and Rayla was worried out of her mind. She knew she should've followed him but she was just so angry that he couldn't see her point. Now she was worried sick for his safety and angry at herself for pushing him away. She gulped back a fresh wave of tears. As a Moonshadow elf, she had been taught from as early as she could remember not to show fear, but she was so scared for his well-being. If something happened to him now, it would be her fault.

When she heard a light knock on the door, she vaulted out of bed with such force that she sent Zym flying with a squawk. She threw the door back and let out an almighty sigh of relief when she saw Callum stood on the other side.

"Hey," he said in a small voice. "I'm so-"

She cut off his apology by pulling him into the room and grabbing him in a bear hug, kicking the door shut with her foot behind him.

"Oof!" he exclaimed.

"I'm the one who should be sorry, Callum," Rayla said softly, burying her head in the crook of his shoulder. "I didn't take into consideration how you'd feel about me saying something like that."

Callum escaped his shock and wrapped his arms around Rayla's waist.

"It's okay - I understand why you suggested it," he replied, then pulled Rayla out of the hug and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking her dead in the eye. "I don't like it one bit though, and I need you to know how important you are. Not just to this mission, but to _me_."

Rayla smiled softly at him. "I know, I was just so…" She gulped and fought down all her instincts. "I was just so scared," she whispered, unable to look Callum in the eye, "of what would've happened if they'd got a hold of you."

Callum's expression softened. "Oh, Rayla," he sighed, fully appreciating how hard it must've been for her to admit that. "We're in this together, from start to finish; no one is separating us," he assured her, tilting his head to make sure she caught his eye. "Anyway, the way I see it," he continued, his voice growing slightly louder and more confident, "the gesture should be a human and an elf returning the Dragon Prince - a symbol of peace, of harmony, of how our two people can get along... and a symbol of…" He paused for a long while and they gazed into each other's eyes. Callum swallowed as he found the courage to continue deep within himself. "And a symbol of love," he stated confidently, lifting his hand from Rayla's shoulder to cup her cheek.

Rayla flushed at the implications of Callum's words.

"D-Do you mean…?" she queried, finding herself unable to complete the question.

Callum smiled softly at her, and leaned forward to press his lips against hers. Rayla felt herself melt into the kiss, and she curled her fingers into Callum's jacket to gently pull him closer.

When they drew back, Callum rested his forehead on hers, and lightly bumped his nose against hers.

"Yeah," he breathed out, catching her eyes with his own. "I love you, Rayla."

His heart leapt in his chest as the widest smile he'd ever seen graced Rayla's features.

"I love you too, sappy prince," Rayla replied softly, moving her hand to Callum's cheek and bringing his mouth to hers once more.


	4. Day 4: Sunrise Kiss

The past week had been _amazing._

Ever since Callum had confessed his love for her, Rayla hadn't been able to contain the pure euphoria and optimism that she felt. They'd spent that night wrapped in each other's arms and she'd never felt so at home.

Now, they were just two days journeying away from the Dragon Palace, where they'd return Zym to his mother and potentially end this millennia-long war between the Pentarchy and Xadia. With Ezran on one throne and Zym eventually taking the other, Rayla couldn't help but feel positive about their chances.

She did, however, try to drag herself out of her thoughts; she was supposed to be keeping watch, but it was hard when their destination was in view. The previous night, they'd been continuing their trek up one of the tallest mountains in Xadia - unfortunately, a necessary task to get to the Dragon Palace - when Rayla had noticed just how badly Callum was struggling up the steep incline.

Fortunately for the human prince, not too further up the incline, there was a small plateau, with an indentation in the side of the mountain, a perfect spot for them to set up camp. The plateau itself gave the couple a monumental view; they could see a crystal clear blue lake, surrounded by forests that had a rainbow-esque variety of colours, and gorgeous flowing waterfalls. On the other side of the vibrant canyon that hosted these wondrous sights was a massive cave opening, so large it was clearly visible from where they were, carved into the side of an even bigger mountain in the form of Thunder's head, an homage to the late Dragon King, with his mouth forming the entrance. This was the Dragon Palace.

Callum immediately plonked himself down on the plateau and started sketching the scene in front of him, causing Rayla to roll her eyes affectionately before starting to set up a campfire in the cave. She shot fleeting glances over at him as she worked and, once she had everything set up and Zym had lit the fire for them, she sat down on Callum's left-hand side and rested her head on his shoulder to watch him sketch.

They sat in a comfortable silence while he worked, with Rayla occasionally glancing up at him and feeling her heart swell with love at the look of concentration on his face, the way his tongue poked out the side of his mouth, and how his eyes flicked back and forth so quickly between the view and his work. A couple of times, he noticed her looking and have her the most adorable smile.

Eventually, Callum put his sketchbook to the side and slipped his arm around Rayla's waist, sighing contentedly. Rayla smiled over at him again. They stayed like that until Callum's stomach rumbled loudly at the same time that he let out a long yawn, to his embarrassment and Rayla's amusement. They fixed up a quick dinner, and Rayla offered to take the first watch (even though they were in an obscure location, the ambush the previous week had Rayla on edge) so Callum could rest.

Callum gave her a kiss on the cheek, one that left a blush on her face, before he lay down next to Zym - who had grown to be the same size as him - and swiftly began to snore.

Rayla gave him a soft smile before heading over to the edge of the plateau, dangling her feet over the edge and fixing her eyes out over the stunning view. It was a position she found herself in still, lost in her own thoughts, as the sun began to creep up on her left-hand side.

It wasn't until Callum let out a groan from behind her that she finally managed to snap herself back to reality, and she began to realise just how tired she'd become. She let out a slight groan of her own and leaned back, resting on her hands and closing her eyes. A small smile graced her features as she heard Callum's footsteps coming toward her, and she cracked one eye open slightly when she felt his presence behind her.

He knelt down on the ground so he was slightly above her and rested his hand on her back, dropping his head to rest lightly on hers.

"G'morning," he her quietly, his voice sounding raspy from where he'd just woken up.

"Morning, tired prince," Rayla responded, a light smirking etching onto her face. "Did you sleep well?"

"Great thanks," Callum answered, his thumb starting to rub gently on the back of her neck, causing a small shiver to run down her spine.

The sun had just started to break through the clouds on their left, and bright oranges and yellows danced across the morning sky while green and purple clashed. Callum lifted his head to meet Rayla's gaze. He leaned forward again and pressed his lips softly on the spot that his forehead had previously rested, and Rayla felt her face heat up at his affection. She couldn't help but acknowledge how the tip of his nose rested perfectly in the bridge of hers, and she let out a delighted sigh through her grinning lips.

"Now it's your turn to get some rest," Callum finally added, fixing her with a lopsided grin. His hand shifted from its position on the back of her neck to her shoulder, where he gave her a gentle squeeze before standing up and offering her his hand.

Rayla shifted back away from the ledge and ended up bumping into Callum's legs before she spun around and took the hand he was still offering to her. He surprised her with his strength as he pulled her up onto her feet, which subsequently meant that she ended up standing nose to nose with him, her free hand automatically landing on his shoulder to help steady her from the momentum.

Her breath hitched in her throat as her eyes met his, the way the shine from the sunrise danced in his eyes, making them shine even brighter, alongside the sudden closeness and his offensively attractive smirk - it all left her feeling breathless and slightly lightheaded. Heat rose to Rayla's face and she bumped Callum's nose with her own.

His smirk turned into a soft smile at her affection and he once again rested his forehead on hers, their faces so close she could feel his breath brushing across her face. She couldn't help but be intoxicated by his petrichor scent. Rayla loved it.

She let her eyes wander over his face and she couldn't help but marvel at how good he looked in the atmospheric glow of the sunrise.

"Gods, I love you," she blurted out, bringing her other hand up and resting both on the back of his neck before pulling him into a loving kiss.

Callum was taken by surprise, by both the verbal and physical outburst of affection, but responded in kind swiftly, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her even closer to him.

"I love you, too," he replied breathily once they'd separated, smiling so brightly at her that she wasn't sure if she was being blinded by the rising sun or by him.


	5. Day 5: Flowers

Callum felt remarkably uncomfortable and tense.

It had been hours since they'd abandoned the boat and elected to continue walking their journey, and he just couldn't shake that nagging doubt about Rayla. She'd been rapidly destroying all the previous assumptions he'd had about elves; she was almost the complete opposite of all the stories he'd been told. However, how quickly and easily she'd lied about her parents being dead had him on edge, and he could tell there was something else she wasn't admitting to either Ezran or himself.

Despite these doubts, Callum couldn't help but worry about her. Since her admission, she'd been completely silent, only speaking when she'd decided that they should set up camp. This had caused the tense, uncomfortable silence that had formed over the group. Callum knew how empathetic Ezran was and could tell that Rayla's mood was rubbing off on his younger brother, who had been sitting on the opposite side of the campsite to him and Rayla for hours, his back to the pair with the egg sat in his lap and Bait curled up on Ezran's left-hand side.

Rayla was perched on a tree branch above where Callum was leaning against its trunk, sketchbook in his lap, idly doodling.

"Cal?" he heard Ezran softly call out to him, causing him to raise his head to look over at his brother's form. Ezran had turned his head slightly to look at Callum. "Can you come here, please?"

Callum nodded and gently set his sketchbook to one side. He pushed himself up onto his feet and strolled over to the other side of the camp, shooting Rayla a small smile over his shoulder as he walked toward Ezran, one which she forced herself to return.

"What's up, Ez? You doing okay?" Callum asked, lightly ruffling Ezran's hair. The younger prince huffed at Callum's actions, before tilting his head back and shooting Callum a glare.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ezran replied, his head dropping back down as he appeared to gaze at something on the floor. "I'm just worried about Rayla."

Callum frowned. Knowing Ezran as he did, Callum knew he'd be feeling for her - Callum was too. He glanced back briefly at the aforementioned elf, who was staring up at the darkening dusky sky.

"Me too, buddy," Callum said, shifting his position so he was stood next to Ezran's right shoulder. "It sounds like she's had a rough time of things."

Ezran nodded slowly in agreement, but kept his eyes focused on the ground. Silence fell over the duo and Callum's frown deepened at the way Ezran was acting.

"Do you remember what you used to do for me when we went camping and I was upset?"

The question startled Callum slightly. Of course he remembered. It happened a few times as they'd grown up. Whenever Ezran was upset, Callum would go and find as many vibrant flowers as he could, make a flower crown, and coronate him King Ezran, before doing whatever ridiculous thing his younger brother wanted until he felt better.

A small smile crossed Callum's face at the memory. It was quickly wiped away by the look on Ezran's face.

"What?" Callum questioned sharply, heavily suspicious of Ezran's grin.

"I thought we could do the same for Rayla," the young prince replied sheepishly, raising his hands and finally revealing to Callum what had held his attention on the floor.

A flower crown, made from a daisy patch a couple of feet in front of Ezran - a patch that Callum hadn't noticed when they'd arrived here. That explained Ezran's silence, and the way he'd been sitting.

Callum knelt down so he was at Ezran's eye level and placed his left hand on Ezran's shoulder. "You have a really good heart, Ez. Let's give it a shot," he said, smiling brightly at Ezran as he spoke, before standing up and offering his brother his hand.

Callum pulled Ezran to his feet and moved to head back over to Rayla, but Ezran tugged on his arm, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"Can you do it?" Ezran asked quietly, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand, cheeks slightly flushed red. Callum raised an eyebrow at Ezran's sudden shyness. "I don't think I could play the role of servant as well as you," Ezran added, lowering his head slightly and gazing up at Callum with a heavy doseof puppy dog eyes.

Callum huffed and rolled his eyes at Ezran's expression, but acquiesced to his request, and gently took the crown from him, not missing the slightly devious gleam in his little brother's eyes. Callum turned slowly, making sure to fix Ezran with a glare until his body was fully turned away from him.

And suddenly all of his confidence was shot. Rayla was watching him with a curious expression, and of course he'd forgotten that she had incredible hearing. It didn't seem like she'd heard the entire conversation, but enough to peak her interest. Callum took a deep breath to steady his sudden nerves and threw a massive smile onto his face.

"Rayla, Prince Ezran requests I have an audience with you!" he exclaimed loudly, in an exaggerated posh accent.

Rayla's eyebrows quirked up in amusement and a smile threatened to cross her lips. "Your request is granted," she replied regally, waving her hand to signal Callum should continue.

Callum's smile widened even further. "Excellent!" He strode forward with his hands behind his back to hide the crown. "May I request the Lady Rayla come down from her position so I may present her with a gift from Princes Ezran and Callum?"

When he was only a couple of strides away from the tree, he stopped and bowed long and low, meaning he missed the flushing of Rayla's cheeks from the way he had addressed her. Callum was aware of Ezran chuckling behind him. He heard a very soft thud before Rayla's boots came into his line of vision.

"Permission to rise, Lady Rayla?" he queried, his voice slightly muffled to the others from his position.

He could hear Rayla attempting to contain giggles of her own as she spoke. "Permission granted, Prince Callum."

Callum stood upright and felt his heart palpitate. He hadn't acknowledged how close Rayla had come to stand in front of him, but he couldn't help but notice how pretty she was in the dying light of the late sun, which seemed to catch her face perfectly. He cleared his throat.

"Lady Rayla, it would be to the utmost delight of Princes Ezran and Callum if you would accept this gift."

He took that moment to bring his arms forward from behind his straightened back and relished the surprised look on Rayla's face, which swiftly diverged into a soft, genuine smile. Rayla reached out a hand to retrieve the crown before hesitating slightly, her eyes flicking between the crown and Callum's face, which was locked in a hopeful, lopsided grin.

"It would be my honour and a privilege to accept this generous offer," Rayla said with a graceful curtsy, before she stepped even closer to Callum and crouched slightly, indicating she wished himto place it on her head.

Ezran's chuckles turned into full blown laughter at the flustered look on Callum's face. Callum regained his composure and carefully raised the crown up to Rayla's head, gently sliding it around her horns, taking extra care not to rip it.

It fit perfectly. Callum couldn't help but smile brightly and appreciated just how _good _Ezran was.

"Rise, _Princess _Rayla," Callum announced teasingly.

His smugness quickly evaporated when Rayla lifted her head, a bright smile on her face, but with tears glistening in her eyes.

"Thank you," she said quietly, suddenly stepping forward and enveloping Callum in a hug. He was startled for a moment, before he allowed his arms to wrap around Rayla.

Moments later, they were joined in the embrace by an equally tearful Ezran.

**HTMTTS**

It wasn't until the next time that Callum presented Rayla with a flower crown that he came to the knowledge of whythat gesture had affected Rayla so much.

"At the time, I thought I'd lost everyone I knew. I didn't know what had happened to Runaan and my parents had abandoned me. In that moment, I… I didn't feel like I had any family left," Rayla explained quietly, once again teary-eyed as Callum carefully held the crown. Her eyes travelled from the crown up to meet Callum's soft, loving gaze, finally answering the unasked question that had been sitting in the back of his mind for the past five years.

"And both you and Ezran came along and, in one week, welcomed me into _your _family, despite whatever... difficulties we might have faced during that time," she continued, recalling the argument the pair had had the veryday after she'd been presented with the crown the first time. She fixed Callum with a soft smile, before her eyes ghosted over his shoulder. "And now I have all the family I could want," she whispered, smiling brightly at Callum, leaning forward to allow him to place this flower crown on her head. She pressed a kiss to his lips, wrapped an arm around his waist, and turned to watch from their position on the porch of their Xadian cottage as Runaan gave _their _daughter a piggyback ride, Tinker sat under a tree on the far side of the clearing, also watching the duo.

A violet flower crown rested lopsidedly in her brunette hair, barely held in place by the small lumps that would grow into her horns.


	6. Day 6: Moonberry Juice

Rayla had thought that her training and upbringing, with the aim of her becoming an assassin, would mean that she had a wide but in-depth range of knowledge.

She was mistaken.

It didn't take long for her to come to that realisation, travelling with the two human princes. She very quickly came to the understanding that humans were a lot higher maintenance than elves, who could survive extended periods of time with minimal food and water supplies, allowing them to travel light.

_Humans_, however, required a lot more sustenance to survive, particularly two human princes who were used to food whenever they required it. To be fair to the boys though, they hadn't made a fuss once about the change in diet, but she could tell they were struggling to get by on the berries, fruits, and plants Rayla procured as they travelled.

It was a lot easier for her when they entered Xadia. There was one less growing human to feed and an abundance of filling plants, the magic that was imbued into everything in Xadia helping to satiate Callum's hunger in a way nothing in Katolis did.

But that all changed when they reached the barren lands. Rayla had known they were coming up and had attempted to stock up on enough food and water to see them both through, but she hadn't considered the effect the lack of shelter, and therefore the heat, would have on Callum.

It began with minor disorientation. Callum would stop talking abruptly in the middle of sentences and then forget what it was he had just beensaying. Rayla started to worry then, but she dismissed her fears as minor dehydration; he just needed to make sure he had a little more water each day. He refused to go into her reserves, even though Rayla insisted she didn't need it as much as he did.

They were halfway across the barren lands when the headaches and dizziness began, and _again_ stubborn prince palmed it off as simply low blood sugar levels; he just needed to eat slightly more each day. Once more, she offered him some of her share, knowing he needed it far more than she did, but he refused.

They were _one day_ from exiting the forsaken place when Callum collapsed.

"It's incredible how quickly the terrain changes in Xadia," he commented, looking at the dense forest on the horizon in awe. "Back in the Pentarchy, it's just…"

Rayla was walking slightly ahead of him, but wore a small smile on her face at the tone of wonder in his voice. She had no idea he was in trouble until she heard a thud and Zym squawk behind her, and turned in horror to find Callum lying motionless on the floor.

"Callum!" she shrieked in fear, dashing to his side and hooking her hands under his arms to turn him onto his back, her concern only growing as he ragdolled in her arms and his eyes rolled back in his head.

Rayla hurriedly rummaged through her bag for something, _anything_, that could help him. She frantically grabbed his water skin and opened his mouth to pour some water in.

But nothing came out. Her eyes widened in shock. How long had he been without water and not told her? She then rummaged further through his bag and found that he had no berries or fruits left either.

"You _dummy_!" she cried out in frustration, slinging her own bag off her shoulder and taking out her water skin. She tucked her left hand under Callum's neck and tilted his head up before carefully pouring some water into his mouth.

Callum's body reacted on its own and, to Rayla's relief, he swallowed the water. He coughed a little and his eyes flickered open, but he swiftly went limp in her arms again.

Rayla couldn't help the panic that was rising in her. She'd seen Callum in a deathly state before, when he'd tangled with Dark Magic, and she'd been helpless then.

She was starting to feel helpless again.

Rayla heard a worried squeak on her right and tilted her head to see Zym roll a glass bottle toward her. Her eyes widened in shock.

Of course!

She rushed to grab the bottle and uncorked it before tilting Callum's head up once more. She let the red contents of the bottle drain into his mouth. When it was empty, she tossed the bottle over her shoulder.

"Come on, come _on_!" she muttered between gritted teeth, tears beginning to form in her eyes as she supported the stricken prince's weight. Zym whimpered and edged closer to Callum, gently licking his cheek.

A lone tear rolled down Rayla's cheek. But then Callum gasped and sat bolt upright, eyes flicking right and left rapidly. He was breathing heavily - borderline hyperventilating.

His fearful eyes met Rayla's and his features calmed drastically.

"R-Rayla?" he said hoarsely, concern for her tearful state evident on his face and in his tone.

Rayla couldn't resist the relief that washed over her. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug. Callum weakly wrapped his arms around her, placing his right hand flat on her back and gently rubbing circles there as he felt tears drop from her face onto his shoulder.

They stayed like that for a period of time before Callum broke the silence. "What happened?" he asked, his voice still sounding rough.

Rayla pulled him back to arm's length and glared at him. "You _silly_, _stubborn_, _dummy prince_!" she exclaimed, thumping his chest with each word.

"Ow. Ow. OW!"

"Why didn't you tell me you'd run out of supplies?" she cried at him, the hand she'd used to hit him now resting lightly on his chest. "I have plenty to share!" Her head dropped slightly so that she was looking down at the hand on his chest.

Callum was slightly taken aback by the tone of Rayla's voice and a guilty feeling settled in his stomach, one that found its way into his facial expression.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, tilting his head down to ensure she made eye contact with him. "I honestly thought I was just suffering a bit from rationing the food. And I didn't want to take from you and end up with you feeling the same way."

The last part was barely audible, but Rayla felt her heart swell with affection from Callum's concern, but also with guilt that he'd gone through this just to make sure _she _didn't. The hand that was resting on his chest came up to cup his cheek.

"Oh, dummy," she breathed, lightly rubbing his cheek with her thumb and relishing the evident heat that was rising in his face. "Elves don't need as much sustenance as humans," she explained. "Neither of us had to go through this."

Callum blinked at her admission. "Oh." He felt rather stupid. "Dummy is an appropriate nickname," he quipped quietly, lowering his eyes to avoid meeting Rayla's gaze, feeling rather embarrassed. Rayla smiled affectionately at him.

"You weren't to know - I didn't exactly explain it to you," Rayla commented, guiding his head up to ensure he looked at her, bringing it so close she could feel his breath brush across her face. "Moonshadow elves don't require as much food or water as any other creature; we're unique even amongst elves, as we get most of our energy from the moon," she explained quietly, not breaking eye contact with Callum, despite the way their closeness was causing her heart to race. "As long as we get a good fix of that, and we certainly have been with this lack of cover here, we don't need much physical food to get by."

Rayla threw a glance over her shoulder at the empty bottle a few feet away from her and, when she turned back to Callum, she saw his eyes on it too.

"The best way for Moonshadow elves to get energy from food or fluid is to drink or eat Moonberry juice, its packed with all the good stuff," she continued softly. "I always have some for emergencies." She frowned slightly. "I'm particularly glad of it today."

Their eyes met once more and a small smile crossed her face. Callum let out a contented sigh at the ministrations of her thumb on his cheek, and the sound gave Rayla a surge of confidence.

His breath smelled of Moonberry juice, and his lips tasted of it too.


	7. Day 7: Fireflies

"Rayla?"

The tone of Callum's voice instantly drew Rayla's attention from across the other side of their camp. It was one she was growing all too familiar with, one he often used when he was about to say or ask something that she might tease him for.

Her eyes drifted across the fire they had set up between them and rested on Callum's form. He was sat with his knees pulled up to his chest, arms wrapped around them, holding them in place. His usually vibrant green eyes were fixed on the fire with peculiar determination, but those eyes betrayed his real feelings: He was nervous.

"What is it, Callum?" Rayla asked softly, shifting into a lotus position and straightening her back, trying to make her body language welcoming; it was clear whatever he was going to bring up was bothering him.

"I have something I need to tell you."

Rayla's concern only grew. His voice was barely above a whisper and it was only because of her elven hearing that she was able to pick out what he'd said. Callum's eyes flicked away from the flames to catch Rayla's eyes and she felt her heart stop.

They were glowing purple.

There was a loud bang and the flames leapt toward Rayla.

"Callum!" she cried out, sitting bolt upright in her bed, heart pounding frantically. Her eyes flashed across her surroundings and she let out a sigh of relief. She was in bed in her room at Katolis castle, not in a Xadian forest with Dark Magic Callum. They'd returned Zym, the war was over, she'd taken up a role as an intercontinental ambassador and travelled between the Pentarchy and Xadia with Callum.

The image of him using Dark Magic replayed in her mind and she felt herself shiver, so she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, after shimmying the duvet so her shoulders were covered. She released another shaky breath as a light knocking startled her.

"Rayla?" She heard Callum's voice from the other side of her door, which then creaked slightly as Callum pushed it marginally open.

"Come in," Rayla replied quietly, resting her head on her knees, still feeling dazed from her nightmare.

The door opened a little more and Callum squeezed himself in before he shut it behind him. Rayla's eyes flicked up to him briefly and she noted that he was fully dressed, even though the moon was still high in the sky.

Callum turned away from the door and started to make his way over to Rayla, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the position she was in.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, striding over so that he was stood next to her.

Rayla nodded slowly in response. "Yeah, just a bad dream," she answered shortly, not really wanting to remember or discuss the images in her mind.

Callum frowned with worry at her response, before he remembered the reason he had come to see her in the first place.

"Hey, I've got something to show you," he said, a smile gracing his features as he held out his hand to her. "I guarantee you'll love it."

Rayla glanced up to her left to meet his gaze, and couldn't help but smile at the genuine excitement bubbling under his grin. She nodded at him.

"Okay, let's go."

Rayla's heart did a funny dance in her chest at the way his grin widened as she took his hand and let him pull her out of bed.

"I-I'll give you a sec to get ready… I'll just be outside," Callum stammered, his face flushing red as he noticed Rayla's nightwear - she was just in a white vest top and black shorts. His comment made Rayla acknowledge what she was wearing and she rolled her eyes, amused that, after all these years and all they'd been through together, she could still fluster him like that. But the way he was looking at her made her blush too.

She couldn't bring herself to speak, so she just nodded at Callum, who smiled awkwardly at her and exited the room. Rayla took a breath to steady herself before swiftly getting dressed.

Moments later, Rayla found herself being led quietly through the castle by Callum in the dead of night. Her curiosity was piqued when they encountered the first guard and Callum guided her around him as stealthily as possible. Rayla managed to catch Callum's eyes and raised one of her eyebrows in a silent question, to which Callum just smirked cheekily at her, causing her curiosity to rise even further.

They managed to sneak past all the guards to get out of the castle, and headed toward the stables. By this point, Callum had slipped his hand into Rayla's to guide her along, which set both of their hearts racing.

They reached the stables and Callum let out a sigh of relief.

"Care to explain what's going on here?" Rayla questioned, pulling her hand out of Callum's, crossing her arms and jutting out a hip, glaring at him. Callum had the nerve to smirk and wink at her, which caused heat to rise to her cheeks.

"Not yet - it'll ruin the surprise," Callum replied, tugging her hand out of where it was tucked under her other arm and pulling her toward one of the horse pens.

Rayla raised an eyebrow in surprise at the fact that the horse was already saddled up. Callum swung himself into the saddle. Once stable, Callum turned to Rayla and held out his hand to her.

"Nuh uh uh," Rayla refused, shaking her head and once more crossing her arms. "Not until you tell me where we're going!"

Callum rolled his eyes at Rayla's stubbornness. "C'mon Ray, just trust me!" he exclaimed, reaching his arm further toward her and smiling brightly at her.

Rayla bit her lip, her hesitance to just go with Callum's idea stemming from her nightmare. Rayla noticed a flicker of hurt crossed Callum's face at her reluctance to trust him, and he pulled his arm back away from her, causing guilt to pit in her stomach.

"Don't worry, sad prince, I trust you," she said softly.

She did, however, roll her eyes at his actions before she reached out and took his hand, using his stability to pull herself onto the horse, behind him. She missed the blush that formed on Callum's face as she wrapped her arms around his waist, and the delighted smile that followed. Callum guided the horse around in its pen, then urged it out of the stables, toward the forest that surrounded Katolis' castle.

"When are you going to tell me what's going on here?"

Callum shuddered slightly as Rayla's breath brushed against his neck as she quizzed him once more.

"Just you wait and see!" he replied cheekily, turning his head slightly to wink at Rayla.

"This better be worth it!" she huffed into his ear.

"It will be," he murmured under his breath, wearing a confident smile.

They rode in silence for some time, all the while Rayla's frustration festered, so when Callum finally guided their horse to a stop, she jumped down as quickly and safely as she could. Callum, however, lowered himself off the horse carefully and guided it over to a tree, tied it up, and turned to face Rayla again with that infuriatingsmug smirk.

"Come on, not much further," he said in a teasing tone, offering his hand to Rayla once more.

Rayla had come this far purely based off trust, so she just rolled her eyes and slipped her hand into his, interlocking their fingers.

"Off we go then," she quipped. "Hey, you're the one that dragged me out of bed in the middle of the night to do who knows what!"

Callum just rolled his eyes and dragged her forward. A comfortable silence descended on the pair and, after a few moments, a cliff face seemingly halted their progress. Rayla turned her head to look at Callum, but his eyes were scanning the wall of the cliff and, after a few moments, she saw recognition cross his features.

"I promise we're almost there," he assured her, flashing her a cheeky grin over his shoulder as he pulled her toward a crevice in the cliff. "It's through here!" he continued as he guided his body through the tight opening.

Rayla stood outside on her own for a moment, her eyebrows raised - what in the Moon's name was he doing?

She followed him anyway, because it was Callum, and he wouldn't drag her out like this unless he had good reason. They shimmied through tight gaps in the cliff face for a long period of time but, eventually, the walls widened and a bigger opening was visible to Rayla just beyond Callum's head.

Callum paused once he reached the clearing and turned to quickly cover Rayla's eyes with his hands, earning a squawk of protest from the Moonshadow elf.

"What are you doing?!" she questioned angrily, trying to shift Callum's hands off her face, but he was determined.

"_Nam lux mea est_," Callum murmured, causing Rayla to stop her squirming. She'd known him long enough to know when he was casting a spell.

Suddenly, Rayla felt heat course across her skin. Callum slowly removed his hands from her face and, before she could open her eyes, took her hand.

She blinked a few times to clear her vision, then let out a gasp of awe.

In front of her was a remarkably spacious cavern, with thousands of multicoloured lights flickering and dancing, no light staying the same colour for more than a couple of seconds. Rayla's jaw dropped. Her eyes struggled to comprehend the variety and beauty of the dancing lights that dazzled her vision.

She could feel eyes on her, but she struggled to pull them away from the mesmerizing performance she was witnessing.

"What are they?" Rayla queried, her voice quiet and awestruck as she struggled to speak.

"Fireflies," Callum replied, and his voice finally drew her attention away from the dancing creatures in front of her.

Rayla's heart soared as her gaze fell onto Callum's face. The multicoloured lights of the bugs danced across Callum's face and illuminated his vibrant emerald eyes, which were fixed firmly on Rayla's face, despite the magical view that was offering itself to them.

The duo gazed at each other for a while, the rainbow lights dancing across both of their faces, and both of them were dumbstruck by how incredible the other looked in the fireflies' light.

"How did you find this place?" Rayla questioned, her eyes only leaving his face to gesture toward the fireflies.

Something shifted in Callum's demeanour, ever so subtly, but Rayla knew him so well she could pick up on it. His eyes drifted away from hers to focus on the dancing insects to their left, a slight glaze falling over his irises as he seemed to be taken to another time and place entirely. Rayla frowned with worry and gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

"My mom used to bring me here," Callum eventually answered, voice not breaking a whisper, but his eyes found Rayla's once more. Rayla's heart swelled at the fact that Callum had wanted to bring her here, somewhere that was seemingly connected to good memories of his late mother. "I've been wanting to bring you here for ages, but we've never really had enough time in Katolis for me to show you."

Rayla smiled softly at Callum and brought her hand up to wipe away a lone tear that had escaped and was making its way down his cheek.

"That's sweet of you," Rayla whispered to him, taking her hand off his cheek and slipping it into his, so that both their hands were intertwined.

"I have something I need to tell you," Callum said after a moment's silence.

Panic pricked at Rayla's heart, the memory of dream-Callum saying that to her sparking her fears once again. But it was quelled almost instantly as he rested his free hand against her cheek, his definitively greeneyes meeting her violet ones once more.

"What is it?" Rayla breathed out, as the effervescent colours of the fireflies danced across his face, almost as if somebody had bottled a rainbow and poured it over his head.

She observed with curiosity as Callum closed his eyes momentarily and took a deep breath, an action that she found utterly adorable, so adorable she couldn't contain herself, and neither could Callum.

"I love you."

They both blinked in surprise at the other's voice. Their eyes locked and they both burst into simultaneous laughter. As they laughed, their bodies naturally drew together, and the hand that Callum was holding hers with slipped onto her waist, as hers slipped around her neck.

They both recovered from their laughter at the same time, and their eyes met once more.

"So why did the timing feel right now?" Rayla asked teasingly, looking at Callum playfully, a look he more than willingly returned.

"Well, I wanted to share this with _my _family," Callum replied softly.

Rayla's heart swelled once more as Callum's hand rested on her belly. The vivid lights flashed across their faces and their lips met, and a single firefly landed on the hand Callum had on Rayla's stomach, dancing all the colours of the rainbow.


	8. Day 8: Rain

Rayla had always hated rain.

She had no idea where it came from, but her dislike for it coincided perfectly with her discovery of her fear of water.

So, typically, she and Callum entered Xadia's rainforest in the middle of monsoon season, having been travelling through the magical continent for over a month now. They had been lucky the past couple of nights; the dense overhang of leaves and branches protected the group during the day and they were able to find caves to sleep in at night, allowing them to stay predominantly dry.

But on the fourth day travelling through the rainforest, their luck ran out. The rain seemingly started out of nowhere and ended just as abruptly. They'd managed to go half the day without any rain and Rayla was feeling positive.

She hated rain, but she despised irony.

It started off with a couple of droplets falling onto her cheeks, having run off some of the leaves.

"Looks like it's about to start again," she groaned, reaching her hand up to wipe the raindrop off.

Callum, who had carried on walking and so was slightly ahead, turned his head to look over his shoulder at her and, seeing her drying her face, looked up at the sky, where a dark grey cloud was forming rapidly.

Rayla looked at Callum with amusement as he squinted up at the sky, as if he was trying to do a tricky math problem.

"It's going to start pouring down in a couple of minutes; we should try and find some substantial shelter," he commented, causing Rayla to shoot him a quizzical look. He shrugged at her. "I can… feel it?" he offered weakly, making Rayla snort out a laugh at him.

"Best get a shifty on then, eh?" Rayla commented, knowing better than to question Callum's _feelings_ when it came to his arcanum, striding forward and grabbing Callum's hand to pull him along.

Zym yapped happily from behind them, and was soon soaring above their heads, tongue dangling out from one side as he joyfully eyed the storm brewing in the sky, skilfully slaloming between the trees in his path. Callum and Rayla watched him flying with delight written on both their faces, before they simultaneously turned to look at each other, both their smiles widening at the other.

Their delight was short lived, however, as almost the moment their eyes met, the heavens opened, and a torrential downpour began, threatening to soak the pair.

Rayla's eyes widened in shock at the cold rain battering the bare skin of her face and was thankful for Callum's swift actions in pulling her forward into a jog.

"Keep an eye out for some shelter for us!" Rayla ordered, her voice rising to a shout to ensure she was heard over the sound of the rain slamming into the leaves above them and onto the ground below them. It was so loud that, even with her elven hearing, she could barely hear Callum respond.

They continued running through the forest, eyes alert for any kind of cover that they could use to make camp and wait out the storm, but it was tough going; their clothes were already sodden and weighing them down. Zym tried his hardest to fly directly above them to give them some shelter from the relentless rain.

Rayla completely lost track of time, but her extremities were starting to go slightly numb when Zym yapped in perfect unison with Callum squeezing her hand. The Storm Dragon suddenly veered heavily to the right and flew off in front of them, with Callum guiding Rayla in the same direction. The rain was dripping so heavily off of her hair that she had trouble seeing, so it was fortunate for her that Callum was insistent on helping her toward whatever it was he and Zym had spotted.

To their right, just through a break in the trees, was a large rock formation, next to a pond-sized body of water. There appeared to be a small break in the rocks, where Rayla could just make out Zym's head poking out. Callum and Rayla both managed to put on a burst of speed and quickly made it into the opening.

They both flopped to the floor instantly, legs burning, and both shivering. Zym tilted his head at their groans and whimpered sadly. After a few moments of being curled up, Rayla sat upright.

"W-We n-need to get a f-fire go-going," Rayla stuttered out, shakily attempting to reach her bag, which had sprawled across the cavern in her rush to curl up to retain heat. Her heart plummeted when she managed to find the firewood she had stored in there in preparation for setting up camp.

It was absolutely soaked. There was no way either of them would be able to get it lit.

"Oh no," she whispered.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rayla saw Callum lift his head and dread cross his features.

"That's not good," he said dryly, his head flopping back down in frustration as another cold shiver racked his body. "What are we going to do?" There was a note of desperation in his question, an emotion Rayla definitelyempathised with.

"I-I'm not sure," Rayla whispered, sliding across the floor toward Callum. "But we need to find a way to conserve body heat."

There was an edge to her voice that caused Callum to look up at her with his brow furrowed. She was close to him, very close, but her gaze was diverted away from him, a slight colouring on her cheeks. Callum forced himself up off the floor so he was seated beside her, shoulders touching.

"When I was doing my training, we were advised that, if we ever got caught in a storm, we should t-take off the wet clothing and use each other's body heat to stay as warm as p-possible," Rayla explained, her eyes fixed firmly on Zym, whose head tilted to the right and left as she spoke. Her voice was very quiet, and full of nerves.

It took Callum's cold brain a moment to process what Rayla was implying, and then suddenly he didn't feel so chilly. "O-Oh."

Rayla shyly looked over her shoulder at Callum and offered him a small smile. "I know this would be a huge step in our relationship, but if we don't, we'll really suffer," she said quietly, reaching her left hand over and placing it on Callum's. He looked down at their connected hands and then back up at Rayla, before returning her smile.

"You're right… Do you want me to close my eyes?" he offered quietly, shifting slightly so that he could shrug his jacket off.

Rayla's smile softened further at his compassionate offer. When they'd started dating, she'd briefly explained to him how Moonshadow elves' relationships typically progressed. It started off very similar to human relationships, Callum had found; they spent a lot of time together, but the difference was that everything was private and nothing was done in public. When couples mutually agreed that they wanted to progress the relationship into something serious, they'd start by sharing their deepest secret and, if they made it past that, they'd go public. For humans, that was the equivalent of being engaged and it wasn't until this point that Moonshadow couples would _see _the other, or even really share any physical intimacy other than hugging and holding hands.

Callum and Rayla were about to leap well past that, and the former wanted to ensure that Rayla was as comfortable as possible.

"Okay," Rayla replied gratefully, giving Callum an indicative nod and waiting for him to close his eyes before beginning to undress.

Callum did the same, ensuring he kept his eyes firmly shut. He struggled a little bit, but eventually he'd stripped himself of all his sodden clothing, aside from his underwear, and managed to successfully flatten it all out separately across the cave floor next to him, to help it dry out. Callum then scooched backward until his back touched the cave wall, which was pleasantly, and surprisingly, rather warm to the touch.

He stayed motionless until he felt Rayla's shoulder press against his, and suddenly some fabric covered them both. Thankfully, the blanket they had picked up in the last town they'd stopped at wasn't completely soaked, and offered them some warmth. Zym swiftly hopped across their laps on top of the blanket, keen to help keep his human and elf warm.

"Ya can o-open 'em now," Rayla stammered, her accent thickening with her nerves. Callum blinked a couple of times to clear his vision, which had blurred from keeping his eyes closed so tightly for so long. "It's l-lucky that we're c-close t-to Regem Volcano; some of the lava is heating these w-walls. And yes, d-dummy, it's n-named after the A-Archdragon," Rayla added, sensing his incoming question.

Callum finally looked across at her and felt his heart race at justhow close their faces were. He couldn't help but shift his arm so that it tucked under hers, and slip his hand into hers.

"I'm just lucky I have you," he replied honestly, giving her a lopsided grin when her face flushed. "Seriously, Rayla, I don't know what I'd do without you."

Rayla grinned back, but then her expression fell. "Probably be warm and cared for back in Katolis castle," she mumbled, dropping her gaze from his face to look at Zym. She even tried to pull her hand away from his, but he held onto her firmly.

"Hey," he said softly, nudging her shoulder with his to get her to look at him. He had to do it a couple of times before she acquiesced and returned eye contact. Callum's heart panged with sadness at the guilt on her face. "I want you to know that I'd go through it all a thousand times to end up right here, right now, with you. Every time."

Even Callum couldn't believe how confident he sounded, and Rayla's blush returned with a vengeance.

"Sappy prince," Rayla mumbled fondly, shooting him a playful look out of the corner of her eye, to which Callum just smirked cheekily and bumped her shoulder with his again.

They sat in a comfortable, affectionate silence for quite a while, just eyeing the drying firewood, hoping to be able to light a fire soon, when Callum couldn't take it anymore.

"Rayla." His voice came out rushed and loud, startling both his elven and dragon companions.

Rayla turned to look at him and was taken aback by the intensity in his features. She found herself barely able to respond above a whisper. "What?"

Callum took a deep breath to steady his nerves. "C-Can I kiss you?"

Rayla blinked slightly at his question, taken by surprise at the seemingly sudden request. But after a moment's thought, Rayla backtracked through the weeks since they'd started dating and recalled moments in which she'd found herself wanting to do the very same.

And, once again, she was struck by Callum's compassion and understanding for her, her culture and upbringing. Rayla smiled at him fondly, nervous excitement bubbling in her stomach.

"Please do," Rayla breathed out, slowly inching her face closer to Callum's, so that her forehead rested against his. She heard and felt him breathe out shakily. His breath seemed to hold that metallic scent that lingers in the air after a lightning strike, and his nose bumped against hers.

He smelled of storms, tasted of rain and, suddenly, Rayla didn't find herself so bothered by the rain at all.


	9. Day 9: Illness

Nope, Rayla still didn't like the rain. Sure, it had led to a magical moment between her and Callum the previous night, but the fallout of getting caught out in it was notfun.

It was still pouring down with a vengeance the next morning, when she groggily cracked open her eyes. At some point, she and Callum had drifted off to sleep, huddled together under the blanket and had shifted during the night, shoulders still touching, hands still locked.

Zym had slipped off their laps and was sprawled out at Rayla's side, snoring lightly. Rayla blinked a couple of times to clear her vision of the sleepy blurriness that had crept in, wiping her eyes with her free hand to assist in this.

Next to her, Callum groaned and opened one of his eyes to give Rayla a smile that almost cleared her head of the heaviness that had set in overnight.

"Hey," he said, then closed his eyes in a way that suggested he was going back to sleep, causing Rayla to snort out a laugh.

Her amusement was short-lived, however, as a large amount of viscous fluid ejected itself from her nose as she did so, her reactions barely sharp enough to catch it before it splattered over Callum's face.

"Oh no," Rayla said in horror, mortification etched onto her expression. Moonshadow elves rarely got ill and, even among her people, Rayla was incredibly adept at avoiding illness, having only previously been ill once that she could recall.

Callum immediately snapped alert at the tone of her voice and sat bolt upright. "What is it? Are you okay?" he asked rapidly, so quickly that Rayla's cold-filled brain couldn't comprehend what he'd asked, so she just blinked in response, hand still covering her mouth to contain her runny nose.

"Just peachy," she grumbled when her brain finally caught up with Callum's questions. "But could you do me a favour?" she asked reluctantly, dread filling her stomach as she realised that she was about to be coddled.

As soon as she'd asked the question, Callum's eyebrows raised in amusement; she was always so stubborn about being independent that this was genuinely the first time he'd been asked that by her.

"Anything," he replied honestly, smiling kindly at her, somewhat sensing her discomfort.

"Could ya grab my wash cloth from my bag?" Rayla requested quietly, shame heavily evident in her tone. "And a bottle of Moonberry juice, please?"

Rayla completely missed the comforting, warm smile that Callum shot her way, as her eyes were fixed firmly on Zym's still sleeping form. Callum slipped his hand out of Rayla's and he shifted himself up onto his feet, stretching out the cricks that had formed in his joints overnight, the blanket they'd had over them dropping from his form as he did so.

Rayla glanced at Callum as he headed over to his bag, her eyes going wide as saucers and a vicious blush forming on her face as she realised he was still just in his underwear. The hand he'd previously been holding flew up to cover her eyes. Callum was completely unaware of this, focused as he was on locating the items Rayla had requested from her bag, having crouched down to pick it up.

"Dummy!" she exclaimed sharply, causing Callum to jump upright and Zym to be startled from his slumber. The dragon rolled onto his back and looked at Rayla with confusion, tongue dangling out the side of his mouth.

"What?" Callum questioned, turning his head to peer at Rayla over his shoulder. Seeing her covering her eyes made him realise his current state of undress and heat rose to his cheeks as he acknowledged what she must have seen. "Oh," he said, blinking a couple of times to try to fight off his embarrassment. "I'm sorry!" He apologised profusely, dropping Rayla's bag to the floor and hastily putting on his now dry clothing - beginning with his trousers.

Rayla stifled a giggle as she heard him fumbling around getting dressed. "It's okay, dummy, just coulda given a girl some warning!" she teased, before wincing at the pain her headache was causing her.

Her comment was fully intended to help Callum's embarrassment, but he just flushed further as he pulled his shirt on, before returning to Rayla's bag and locating her wash cloth and Moonberry juice.

Or so he thought he had. Much to his dismay, the bottle was empty. Callum threw a glance to the entrance of their small cavern at the relentless rain, although it had lessened somewhat in its heaviness.

A look of determination crossed Callum's face. He walked back over to Rayla and gently guided the wash cloth into her clean hand, which she was using to massage her forehead. She jumped slightly at his sudden presence, but opened her eyes to look at him, offering a small, grateful smile. She was about to verbally thank him when her eyes caught sight of the empty bottle and then the look of grim determination on Callum's face.

"Oh no you _don't_," she all but growled as she used the wash cloth to clean her hand and wipe her nose. "I'm not letting you go back out in that to get me Moonberries, so that you end up ill too, nuh uh, no way. And, knowing you, you'd end up coming back with something else and make it worse anyway!" She ensured that she kept her tone light, so as to not make him feel bad and so he knew she was just teasing.

Callum smirked at her attempt to put him off and reached for his sketchbook, which had been treated before he'd been given it to protect it from the weather and therefore was bone dry. He flicked swiftly through the pages. When he reached the desired page, he proudly thrust it into Rayla's vision, showing her the many accurate sketches of various Xadian bushes and plants, including the correlating berry or fruit it produced, with his royal scrawl annotating which was which.

Rayla's eyebrows quirked upward, betraying how impressed she was with his drawings. Callum noted this with a smirk. "Still reckon I'll come back with the wrong thing?" he quipped, closing the sketchbook and throwing the strap over his shoulder.

Callum could see her winding up a protest, so he crouched down in front of her and placed his hand on her shoulder, smiling softly at her.

"Look, Rayla," he started, shifting his hand so it cupped her cheek. "You've done so much to keep me safe and well while we've travelled; now it's myturn."

Rayla leaned into his touch and hummed quietly while closing her eyes, growing a little drowsy.

"I won't be gone long but, in the meantime, try to get some water in you and rest," Callum said after caressing Rayla's cheek.

He stood up and fetched their water skins as he spoke, then gently guided one into Rayla's hand. He placed the other by her side. She took a couple of swigs before placing the skin down beside the other. Callum then helped her to lie down. Rayla was almost asleep at this point. Once she was down, Callum headed toward the entrance, but Rayla's voice drew his attention.

"Cal?" she mumbled, barely above a whisper as she drifted into unconsciousness. "Love ya."

A wide smile stretched across Callum's lips. He grabbed Rayla's hooded cloak off the floor and threw it on over his jacket before hesitating at the entrance, his gaze falling onto Rayla's sleeping form. She'd placed her hands together and rested her head on them as a pillow.

Callum strode over and placed a soft, gentle, loving kiss on Rayla's forehead. "I love you, too," he whispered affectionately. His heart swelled as she breathed out a content sigh and a smile slipped onto her lips.

Callum stood upright and backed out of the cave, not taking his eyes off of Rayla.

"Zym, please keep watch." Callum's smile extended into his tone, and he practically skipped out of the cave and into the rain.

He'd always loved the rain.


	10. Day 10: Scarf

Callum's scarf had always puzzled Rayla.

Not so much the scarf, but more how he never took it off, only ever doing so when he washed it. Then, as soon as it dried (this more often than not enhanced by Callum casting _aspiro_), it was back around his neck. He hadn't yet noticed her watching him whenever he put it back on but, if he had, he would have seen an extremely puzzled look on her face.

That, and his sketchbook, were pretty much the only things he'd yet to tell her about since they'd become a couple, and it was starting to itch in the back of her mind.

Rayla didn't miss that, whenever he was feeling stressed or anxious, worried or scared, he would tug the scarf up over the bridge of his nose and breathe into it. She didn't miss the glance he gave it when she explained how Moonshadow elves were married by binding their wrists and hands together with fabric when they were discussing their wedding.

Everything was planned out, except from what they would use to bind their hands. The wedding was in a week's time and they were currently staying in Rayla's hometown, in Tinker and Runaan's house, who'd just arrived to escort the duo back for the wedding.

Rayla and Tinker were stood silently side-by-side in the kitchen, preparing some food for dinner on a rectangular island table in the middle of the room, when booming laughter made them both jump slightly in place. After overcoming her shock, Rayla let out a content sigh. It made her heart soar that Runaan and Callum were getting along. She knew it reallywasn't easy for Runaan to get over his predisposition toward humans, but the fact that Callum had been the one to free Runaan from Viren's coin had helped his case.

But Rayla could tell that it was just Callumbeing Callum that had won Runaan over. How he genuinely cared for her and treated her like, well, a princess (much to her dismay at times), how he profuselydetested Dark Magic and was a leading campaigner to have it fully banned from the human kingdoms.

And Rayla could tell how genuine Runaan's growing affection for the Archmage was. Runaan enjoyed playing a tough act, especially to wind Callum up, but Rayla knew Runaan, and she could tell by the smile that would settle on his face whenever he saw Callum and Rayla together that he approved of and accepted Callum.

She had no idea that an adoring smile had formed on her own face until Tinker playfully nudged her shoulder. "Got yourself a good'un there," he teased in a sing-song voice, causing Rayla to blush like a teenage girl.

She smiled sheepishly to herself, returning her attention to the vegetables she was chopping. "You don't need to tell me that," she replied, affection dripping from her tone. "Never thought I'd see the day Runaan laughed with a human," she joked, shooting a sideways glance at Tinker, who smirked, eyes full of mirth.

"You and me both, Ray," he replied, before a look crossed his face and his voice dropped to a whisper. "Have you and Callum decided on a binding yet?"

Rayla frowned. "Not yet," she whispered back. "I was going to bring it up tonight, actually."

Tinker shared her frown. "Does he know that it's supposed to be made from something meaningful? Because you're leaving it late!"

Rayla nodded slowly, her eyes unfocused as she considered his reaction to her bringing that topic up the first time around. "I have an idea," Rayla replied quietly. "Call it more of a hunch, to be honest." Tinker shot her a quizzical look, to which Rayla responded with a wink, indicating that he'd see later. "Just bring this up again at dinner," she said with a smirk.

Tinker ensured he did. The four of them were sat around the island table, with Runaan and Tinker facing each other and Callum and Rayla opposite each other.

There was a comfortable silence around the table when Tinker spoke up. "So, Callum, how's the wedding planning going?"

Callum was slightly startled by the sudden break of the silence and needed a moment to swallow the food he had just started to chew. "All good, I _think _we've got everything covered now," he answered hesitantly.

Tinker nodded, a pleased smile on his face. "So you've decided on your bindings?" he followed up, subtly shooting Rayla a look and a wink.

Callum's face blanched slightly, and he looked at Rayla apologetically. "I completely forgot, I'm sosorry!" he apologised, clearly disappointed in himself as he reached hand over the table to place it on Rayla's.

Rayla offered him a comforting smile. "It's okay, dummy," she assured him. "It's part of my culture, so I've been coming up with ideas. It's supposed to be something meaningful to either one of us or our relationship," she explained, and she didn't miss how his eyes, which had been locked on hers, subconsciously flicked down to his scarf once more.

"What did you have in mind?" Runaan asked. Having been focused on his meal, he'd missed the conspiratorial glances between Rayla and Tinker, so found himself genuinely curious.

Rayla glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, before fixing her gaze firmly on Callum's, giving him a soft, genuine smile. "How about your scarf?"

Callum's entire body locked up momentarily and a shocked expression formed on his face. He slowly withdrew his hand from Rayla's and leaned back in his chair. Rayla's smile dropped from her face at his expression and was replaced by concern, something that was reflected on Tinker's and Runaan's faces too.

Callum's hand, the one that had been holding Rayla's, reached up to his scarf, and he gently rubbed the fabric between his finger and thumb as his gaze fell onto his dinner.

Rayla, Tinker, and Runaan shared concerned glances, before Rayla's attention fell back on Callum's forlorn face. "Cal?" she said gently, mimicking his earlier action and reaching out to place her hand on his free one, as his right was still slowly turning over the fabric of his scarf.

Callum's eyes flicked up to meet Rayla's and she was slightly shocked to see tears threatening to fall from them. He offered her a shaky smile and took a deep breath before turning his hand to allow hers to slip into his. He gently ran his thumb over the back of her hand, his eyes drifting there.

"I'd love that," he eventually said, his voice quiet and filled with emotion. A brighter smile grew onto his face as his eyes went back up to Rayla's, and he swiftly took his hand from his scarf to clear his eyes of tears.

"If you don't mind me asking, Callum," Runaan started, his voice compassionate. "Why does that scarf mean so much to you? I've seen you wearing that in the middle of a Xadian summer!" he joked to try and lighten the mood somewhat.

Callum smiled at him, appreciative of both his compassion and his attempt to lighten the mood that Callum had brought on.

"It was the last gift my mom made for me," Callum admitted quietly, his eyes fixed back onto Rayla's, as if he was speaking only to her, like it was a truth only she deserved to hear. "She'd made it for me just before she… I didn't get it until after she was..." His voice trailed off as his emotions threatened to overflow.

Rayla smiled sadly at him as she felt tears prickle at her own eyes. "It's okay, Callum, you don't have to explain any further." She reassuringly squeezed his hand.

Callum swallowed, but kept his eyes firmly on hers. "She'd have absolutely adored you."

Rayla felt her heart soar. Callum's voice was so genuine, like he truly believed that fact with his entire being.

"Scarf it is," Rayla confirmed, emotion flowing through her voice too. She gave Callum a swift nod.

Runaan and Tinker shared a smile across the table, pleased that the couple had worked things out in such a swift, honest manner. They were already a formidable couple; it was going to be even more powerful when they were married.

And so it was, a week later, Callum's scarf no longer wrapped around his neck, but around their wrists and hands as they spoke their vows in front of friends, family, and loved ones, binding them to love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives together, in Sarai's memory and name.

Less than a year later, the scarf was off Callum's neck once again, this time carefully wrapped around Queen Sarai's namesake, Callum and Rayla's newborn daughter.


	11. Day 11: Dreams

The sun was high in the sky on their first day in Xadia, but the newly formed trio had made no progress whatsoever into the magical lands.

Rayla's heart pounded with fear as a huge shadow fell over her, Callum and Zym.

"Oh no, Sol Regem!" she whispered, terror dripping from her voice.

Acting as quickly as ever, she turned and grabbed Callum's arm, tugging him behind a nearby rock, praying to any and every god that would listen that the Archdragon of the Sun hadn't spotted them. The rock wasn't tall enough to hide them standing up so, as soon as they were behind it, Rayla crouched down low and pulled Callum into a similar position. Fortunately for her, Zym had stayed perched on Callum's shoulder, seemingly not keen to introduce himself to another dragon.

She pressed her lips together and took a deep breath to try to stop panic from creeping in. What was Sol Regem doing here?

Rayla's eyes fell on Callum's face, which caused more concern to flood through her body. Callum looked absolutely terrified - rightly so, to be fair to the boy - but Rayla felt guilty for it. He'd never seen her react like that to anything before. She tried to offer him a smile, but it came out unconvincing.

"You okay?" she whispered, leaning her face down to catch his eyes, which had been firmly fixed on the ground in terror.

Callum nodded slowly. "Yeah," he breathed. "What do we do now?"

Rayla frowned. She didn't know. "We'll just have to try to wait him out."

Callum's eyes widened in fear once more. "Here?" he asked, referring to their crouched position. There was no way he could stay in this position for an extended period of time.

Despite the situation, Rayla couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. "No, dummy, I'll see if I can find a cave somewhere for us to hide in," she explained, rising up slightly to observe the area around them from behind the rock. Her eyes travelled carefully across the terrain around them, looking for any kind of indentation that they could set up camp in.

Relief washed over her as she spotted a reasonably sized opening in the distance, directly behind Callum. It looked like Sol Regem's view of it would be blocked by pillars of rock.

"Come on," Rayla muttered, grabbing Callum's hand, throwing a glance over the rock to make sure Sol Regem wasn't looking their way, just in case, and pulling him in the direction of the cave she'd spotted.

They were a couple of feet away from it when Rayla heard Sol Regem huff, causing panic to rage through her body once more. She pushed Callum and Zym ahead of her and into the opening before risking a glance over her shoulder.

Sol Regem wasn't even facing in their direction, but Rayla swiftly entered the cave regardless.

"Sorry," she apologised to Callum for shoving him. "I heard him and thought he might've seen us."

Callum had ended up sprawled on the floor, having stumbled when Rayla shoved him. Zym was a couple of feet away, comfortably seated. "It's fine," he deadpanned. "At least we're hidden here."

Rayla nodded, resting her back against one of the walls and sliding down so she was sitting with her knees propped up. From her position, she could just about make out Sol Regem's form in the distance. She let out a frustrated sigh before rubbing her face with her hands.

"What is he doing here?" she mumbled under her breath. "What a nightmare."

She heard Callum shift, getting up off the floor and mimicking her position on the other side of the small cavern.

"Who is he?" Callum queried, glancing out of the opening of the cave, but unable to see the Archdragon from his position.

Rayla dropped her hands from her face and frowned at Callum. Did humans really no nothing about Xadia? "He's the Archdragon of the Sun," she answered quietly - and reluctantly; she didn't really want to go into Xadian politics too much right now.

Callum's eyebrows quirked up. "So there'd be an Archdragon for each primal source, right?" he questioned. "Because Thunder was a Storm Dragon, like Zym, so he was the Archdragon of the Sky." He reached out and petted the aforementioned baby Dragon as he spoke. Zym cooed in delight.

Rayla's eyebrows rose this time; she was impressed with Callum's deductive reasoning. "That's right. In Xadia, each dragon is connected to one of the six arcanum, but the Archdragons have been around for centuries - millennia, even. Most of the dragons you see today are descended from one of the very first Dragons, including Sol Regem."

Callum was fascinated. "So, who's the Archdragon of the Moon?"

Rayla shot him a glare. "What is this, twenty questions?" she huffed, slightly frustrated by his probing.

Callum's face lit up with joy. "No, but it could be!" he exclaimed, his bright smile becoming infectious; Rayla had to fight the one that was threatening to creep onto her own face. "I mean, we're going to be waiting here until Sol Regem goes away, right? Might as well pass the time!"

"Alright then, curious prince," she replied after a moment's silence, unable to resist her own urge to find out more about Callum and his upbringing. "Since you've already asked a couple, I guess it's my turn," she quipped, winking at him.

Callum grinned in response. "That's only fair," he replied.

"Favourite colour?" Rayla asked.

Callum's eyebrows flicked up in amusement; he'd been expecting something slightly deeper than that, but assumed she was working her way up. He considered the question. As an artist, he appreciated and valued all colours. He'd learned pretty early on that he could do almost anything he wanted by combining various colours. So, to pick one specific one...

His gaze fell onto Rayla's face. She was observing him with a smile, her violet eyes watching him intently, a mixture of curiosity and… fondness in her expression. Callum felt his heart pick up and his face began to flush. He cleared his throat.

"Violet," he answered after a moment, giving Rayla a soft smile.

Rayla's eyes widened a bit in surprise, and there was something in the way Callum was looking at her that set her pulse racing, but she returned the smile with a genuine one of her own.

"Where did you grow up?" Callum asked.

"In the capital of a region called Alba," Rayla answered, her gaze drifting from Callum, out of the cave and up into the bright blue sky. "The capital is called Dùn Èideann," she added after a pause.

Unpleasant memories of her parents and the shame they'd caused her flickered into Rayla's mind, so she looked back at Callum's face. He was watching her with a curious expression, one Rayla couldn't place, but there was a glint in his eyes. Realising that he was using this to get to know deeper things about her, Rayla upped the ante from her previous question.

"Why did Soren call you a step-prince?" Rayla didn't know what the term meant, and she'd been confused by Ezran returning to take the throne when Callum was the older sibling.

She regretted asking about it when a pained expression flashed across Callum's face.

"Well, I'm only royalty by marriage," Callum replied shortly, before breathing out a heavy sigh. "My mom married the Ki… my step-dad after I was born."

This just confused Rayla further, and Callum could see it in her expression.

"Harrow isn't my birth father… Someone else is," Callum rested his arms on top of his knees, and his chin on top of that. "Someone I've never met. My mom said he died before I was even born."

His voice was barely above a whisper, but Rayla could hear the raw emotion in his tone, and sympathy coursed through her. As did guilt. She'd lied about her own parents to Callum, then told him she wished they were dead, when he'd lost _three _parents. She opened her mouth to apologise when Callum spoke again.

"Did you always want to be an assassin?"

Rayla was taken aback. His entire demeanour had switched back, like he had completely shoved away the previous conversation. Almost as if he'd just locked it up to deal with later. She was so taken aback that she didn't answer Callum's question, and just blinked at him.

"Was it always your dream?" he followed up, closely observing Rayla.

"My… dream?" Rayla was confused by the terminology, causing Callum to lift his head in surprise.

"Yeah, like, something you aspired to be when you grew up?" he queried.

Rayla suddenly found herself being bombarded by the same doubt that had troubled her on Villads' boat. Or had she only ever become an assassin in a futile attempt to connect to and please her parents and, later, Runaan?

"I… I don't know," she said after an extended pause, her eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

Callum's face fell at Rayla's sorrowful disposition. She didn't react to him getting up and sitting down next to her until he lightly bumped his shoulder against hers.

"Talk to me," Callum offered quietly.

"Well, I'm an assassin that's never killed anyone," Rayla started bluntly. "And, quite frankly, I don't think I ever want to."

Callum smiled softly at her admission. "That's good," he replied in a jokey tone, earning a playful smile from the Moonshadow elf. "So, you've never had a wish for yourself? For Xadia?" he asked, which turned Rayla's playful gaze into a thoughtful one.

"Myself, no, but I've always wanted peace for Xadia," Rayla answered with a small shrug and dismissive tone.

Callum smiled widely as an idea formed in his head. "Why not an ambassador then?" he suggested.

"Is that the same thing in the human kingdoms as in Xadia?" Rayla asked, turning to look at Callum, a flicker of hope in her demeanour.

"If that's someone who goes between different provinces to make peace and trade agreements, then yeah!" Callum answered enthusiastically.

Rayla considered it for a moment before her face fell. "I don't know, Callum; that would be a lot of planning and negotiating and I don't think I'd be any good at it."

Callum frowned at Rayla's self-deprecation. "Rayla," he started, placing a hand on her shoulder to garner her attention, as if his stern tone wasn't enough. "You are one of the smartest and toughest people I have ever known, and probably will ever know, human or elf." Callum made sure he held Rayla's gaze while he spoke, even though his heart was racing. "And you have a great sense of what's right or wrong. You're ethical and you know what you believe in."

Rayla could feel her heart rate rising and her cheeks flushing at Callum's praise. She opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off.

"And you've got a _good heart_. I think you'd be perfect!" he finished emphatically, beaming at her.

Rayla was dumbfounded by the praise. She thought back to all the previous times she'd had to speak in public as part of her training, how she would get flustered in front of others and stumble over her words. A crestfallen expression crossed her face and she turned her head away from Callum to look at Zym on the other side of the cave. Zym, in turn, was watching the duo's conversation with interest.

"I don't think I'd be any good with public speaking, though," she admitted.

"Neither would I, but we'd be in it together."

Rayla's head whipped back round, eyes as wide as saucers in her shock.

Callum had a sheepish, hopeful smile carved onto his face. "Think about it, Rayla," he said, shifting his hand from her right shoulder to her left by sliding it across the back of Rayla's neck, sending a shiver down her spine. His other hand waved dramatically in front of him as he maintained eye contact. "We return Zym, stop the war, and travel the lands to keep peace, a humanprince and a Moonshadow elf!" Callum proclaimed.

He was so passionate, in fact, that Rayla_ could _imagine it. Going from town to town, from Xadia to the Pentarchy, instilling peace. Callum learning magic, her learning how to negotiate peace treaties and trade deals, the pair of them growing closer together until eventually they…

Rayla blushed as her thoughts ran away from her.

But _that_, that was something definitely worth dreaming about, she decided.


	12. Day 12: Hugs & Holding Hands

Callum had never been particularly comfortable with physical contact. There was something about it that put a knot in his chest, a little bubble of discomfort, of stress.

His mother and Ezran were exceptions to this. Harrow was too, to a certain extent, but Callum had never fully come to terms with physical contact with his step-father until it was too late. Claudia touching him would just send all of his brain cells misfiring and Soren very rarely engaged with him in physical contact, except to pick him up off the ground while sword fighting.

But then Rayla came along, and everything Callum had grown accustomed to with physical contact went out of the window.

It started off with a casual hand on the shoulder, then progressed into comforting hugs. And the bizarre thing was, Callum found himself itching to return the contact, or even initiate it, something he'd neverexperienced before.

There was something about Rayla he was drawn to, both emotionally and physically. Especially once they'd crossed into Xadia and Ezran had departed, their dynamic completely changed. Partly due to necessity, partly due to Callum longingfor Rayla's touch.

It began in a protective manner, Rayla opting to lock her fingers with Callum's to hide his extra finger, while he shoved his other hand into his pocket, a furious blush on his face as his heart hammered. Usually, Rayla only did this when they were near a Xadian town; however, they'd almost got caught by an elven scouting party when camping a fair way away from a town, causing paranoia to set in somewhat. From then onward, they held hands whenever they were travelling, regardless of their vicinity or lack thereof to a town.

Callum was reflecting on this as he sketched out an image that had been in his mind for some time. When Callum had been in his Dark Magic dream state, he had recalled a conversation his mother had had with him when he was younger, to help him overcome his anxiety and panic attacks. That image of Sarai rubbing his back and comforting him, that was what he was translating onto paper, but his mind kept wandering to the Moonshadow elf sat in a branch on the opposite side of the campsite, and how he found himself almost craving her touch.

Even now, Callum's skin seemed to crawl at the fact that Rayla was so far away. It was bothering him almost all day and all night. He was having distinct trouble sleeping without Rayla next to him.

Callum knew what was happening to him and knew what feelings he was trying to subdue, but _gods, _this need for physical interaction with Rayla could potentially cause a block to form between them, should he reveal it to her. And he didn't want that, not one bit.

Callum's eyes continuously darted from his sketch, up to Rayla, back to his sketch, back up to Rayla. The Moonshadow elf was leaning back against the tree trunk with her eyes closed, with rays of new moonlight shining onto her face and, suddenly, Callum found an alternative sketching itch that he needed to scratch. He flicked to a new page and set to work.

Halfway through his drawing of Rayla, the sensation of his skin crawling transformed into one he was more familiar with, but he couldn't fathom why it was coming on now. That familiar pit in his stomach and chest, the little knot of frustration, of discomfort, of anxiety.

Callum's brow furrowed as he worked, trying to keep his mind distracted from the indescribable panic that was threatening to flood his brain. He could feel strain forming across his forehead, dangerously close to slipping into a headache. He took his left hand, which had previously been balancing his sketchbook on his lap, and began to rub his temple, while he continued sketching with his right.

_Focus, Callum. Breathe_,he told himself, Sarai's guidance floating in the back of his mind. But his thoughts felt loose, disjointed, so much so that he couldn't pinpoint who had given him that advice and why. He was sketching on autopilot, his brain a fuzzy mess. He was on a boat with rocky waves and dark, ominous clouds starting to form.

Callum's vision began to blur as tears formed in his eyes, his head span, his headache flared, his extremities began to feel numb, his subconscious tried to focus on helping his brain. Eventually, it all became too much and his pencil dropped from his hand, which rushed up to the other side of his forehead. His breathing became laboured and his vision and hearing completely tunnelled. He was being tossed overboard into the vicious stormy sea.

Callum's body forced out a shaky sob. He was distantly aware of footsteps, of a pressure on his back, but it all felt a long way away. His body curled up into a protective ball, his sketchbook slipping off his lap. Tears streaked down his face as his body racked with sobs. He was being tossed around hopelessly, mind and body battered and bruised, dragging him under.

"_Callum!_"

The waves began to calm, allowing Callum to resurface.

"_Callum, please, I'm here!_"

The clouds began to part and the vibrant moon began to shine down onto Callum's face.

"_Please, Callum, just breathe!_"

Callum's body flew upright and he choked violently, tears falling from his cheeks onto the ground as he blinked rapidly. He could feel her arms around him, he could breathe in her scent, he could hear her voice, all pulling his mind back in like an anchor.

He gasped and threw his arms around Rayla in a tight hug as feeling returned to his limbs. He became aware of her own sobs, the way her body was shaking against his, the way her hand was rubbing comforting circles on his back, while the other gently stroked his hair.

Callum took a deep breath.

In. Out.

He pulled away from Rayla slightly, so his hands came to rest on her hips and hers on his shoulders.

In. Out.

Rayla's hands rose up and wiped the tears off his cheeks, relief creeping into her features. Callum leaned into the touch.

In. Out.

"Thank you," he breathed, shakily, hoarsely.

Rayla smiled sadly at him, her violet eyes glistening with tears in the moonlight. "Any time. Always," she assured him quietly, pulling him in for another hug, anchoring his body and mind once more.

Rayla had been having a relaxing evening. She, Callum, and Zym had made good progress that day, so they'd set up camp early. Once they had the fire going and food cooked and eaten, Callum had sat in a lotus position under a tree and started sketching, so Rayla had plonked herself up in a tree branch and tried to have a little nap before she would offer to take night watch, as her vision in the dark was far superior to Callum's, in addition to her spectacular elven hearing.

She'd been dozing when something had tugged at her mind, a not too unfamiliar sensation. It was similar to an adrenaline rush before a fight, when the hair on the back of her neck would stand upright and her instincts would kick in. Her eyes had been halfway open when she'd heard the pencil drop.

They'd flashed open quickly. Callum _never _dropped his pencil.

The condition he'd been in had made Rayla's heart drop and panic flush into her heart. She'd leaped off the tree as he'd slipped into a fetal position, hands clutching his head, sobs breaking the quiet night. Zym had yapped with worry and bounded over too, lightly nudging Callum's head, but the human prince had shown no sign of a reaction.

Callum had explained to her once that he was prone to anxiety and panic attacks when he was in a heightened state of tension or emotion. Rayla assumed that having to be undercover everywhere for fear of being killed would be enough to tip him over the edge, but she had no idea what emotional battles he'd been fighting too.

He'd told her that, when he had them as a kid, his mother would rub circles on his back for his mind to trace, giving him a way to focus on something real, instead of the demons in his head. She would speak loudly and call out his name, to help bring his hearing back into the present time. She would holdhim until he stopped sobbing, to give him a smell to remind him of what was reality and a physical presence that he was comfortable with to provide a solid anchor.

Rayla had followed all of his instructions to the letter, but hadn't been able to keep her emotional composure at the horrific sound of his crying, and tears of her own had begun to fall. She'd kept him in a tight embrace regardless, rubbed circles on his back, called out to him.

It had felt like hours passed before Callum's body pulled away from hers and a small, emotional, grateful smile graced his lips, and he breathed out a thank you. Rayla was filled with relief, and pride. She'd managed to anchor him, with her words, with her hands, with her hugs, and pull him out of his head.

In that moment, Rayla promised that she would always be there to support and stabilise him, no matter where, no matter when, no matter how.

And Rayla kept that promise.


	13. Day 13: Teasing

Callum groaned into his pillow as his alarm clock buzzed on his bedside table. Craning his neck, and blinking rapidly to shake the sleep from his eyes, Callum swatted lazily at the snooze button.

Another fresh day of hell, otherwise known as school.

Callum sighed heavily, and let his head flop back onto his pillow and closing his eyes. He was just threatening to drift back into subconscious when his alarm went off again. Callum cracked open one eye and gave his clock the dirtiest look he could manage with half of his face stuffed against his pillow.

He rolled over onto his back and hit the stop button on his clock, and stared up at the ceiling. Callum shot a sideways glance at the clock, that read 7:55, meaning he had an hour to get ready and get to school. Callum was enrolled in Katolis High School, the very first school to provide a mixed student body, both elves and humans were accepted. Callum was at the top of his classes for that matter (he was especially proficient in Art, and Magical history and theory), but he didn't see that as a positive thing.

Callum was an intelligent introvert. This caused him to be the brunt of many other students jokes and teasing, despite his step-father being the headmaster. In fact, Harrow knew nothing of the way Callum was treated, the 16-year-old was more than willing to deal with it by himself, but the almost constant teasing wasn't helping with his mental wellbeing. Nobody in the school, besides his family, knew that Callum was Harrow's stepson, as Callum had elected to use his late mother's maiden name.

Callum suffered from both anxiety, and PTSD, and had been diagnosed with both after a horrific car crash. Physically, he'd made a full recovery, but his mentally, he had not. It was how he'd lost his mother, and Callum had come to terms with the fact that it was when he'd lost his mind, too.

Both of these diagnoses were a large factor in why he tried to keep himself to himself at school, but that seemingly had painted a target on his back.

He had very few friends at Katolis High, his half-brother, Ezran was in the youngest year of school, and his childhood friends Soren and Claudia were a year above him, but neither of them particularly socialized with him, and to some extent, Soren joined in with the teasing. He rarely spoke to Ezran during school hours, as he didn't want anyone finding out that they were related, and therefore knowing that the headmaster was his stepdad. Callum shuddered at the prospect.

Callum dragged himself into a seated position, bracing himself to face another day of pointed stares and not so subtle comments. He quickly grabbed his SSRIs, and swallowed them with some water that he always kept by his bed to make sure he was keeping up with his prescription.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and rested the palms of his hands behind him.

"Here we go again, Callum," He muttered to himself. "Just another day to get through."

Little did he know, that his entire life was about to dramatically change.

Callum had a swift shower, before throwing on a red t-shirt, blue jacket and some black jeans, lastly, he carefully wrapped his treasured red scarf around his neck. It was the last gift he'd had from his mother, and he _always _wore it, come sun or rain, summer or winter.

He scooped up his school bag, that had been dumped into the corner of his room when he had returned the previous day, and his sketchbook, which had been placed carefully on his computer desk. Callum then grabbed his phone off his bedside table, where he had a text from his step-dad, informing him that, as was usually the case, he had taken Ezran into school early with him.

Callum texted a swift confirmatory response, before he slipped his phone into his jeans pocket. He shouldered his bag, and hooked his sketchbook satchel over his opposite shoulder and headed out of his room to grab a quick breakfast before he left for school.

They lived in a three bedroom house, with Callum's room on the upper floor, down the end of a long corridor, which had three closed doors, one was the bathroom, and the other two were his brothers and step-dads rooms. After heading down the stairs he arrived in the entrance hallway, to his left was the front door, to his right was a hallway into their open plan kitchen, which had a breakfast island in the middle. In front of him, but slightly offset to the right from his position, was the front room. Callum headed into the kitchen, grabbed a piece of bread out of the breadbin, threw it into the toaster and popped the switch down.

He leant back against the breakfast island, and opened up his phone to scroll through some social media. Callum wasn't a massive user of social media, it didn't do his anxiety any favours, but it was often the best way to stay up to date with current affairs. The toaster popping up grabbed his attention. He swiftly buttered his slice of toast and took a bite out of it as he headed out the front door.

It was a fifteen minute walk to the school, but Callum liked to make sure he was there as early as possible to avoid as many uncomfortable interactions with other students as he physically could. After finishing his toast, Callum shoved his hands into his pockets and strolled along the pavement at a steady pace, eyes fixed on the ground.

When Callum arrived at the school, he stood outside the green gates and took a deep breath, eyes drifting across the buildings in front of him, the school stretched out in a horizontal L shape. He was at the top of some stairs which led down to a large tarmac playground, to his left was a two story building, which held the main entrance, reception and cafeteria on the ground floor, and a large library on the top floor, tucked behind that building, out of Callum's view, were the state-of-the-art physical education facilities. Directly in front of him was a three story building, hosting a majority of humanities, science and magical classes, this then dropped down into being two storeys, where all of the homeroom classes were, alongside the art section.

Callum sighed, and made his way directly to his homeroom. He was usually the first one there, and would elect to sit in the far corner of the room sketching until the rest of the students turned up. His homeroom teacher was Claudia and Soren's father, Viren, who was also the deputy headmaster, effectively Harrow's right hand man at the school.

Viren always gave Callum an odd feeling, there was just something about the man that didn't sit right with Callum. Maybe it was his affiliation with the Dark Magic classes, something Callum entirely didn't agree with, but he just couldn't shake the sensation. Because of this, whilst Callum was alone in the homeroom with Viren, very few words were ever spoken, just a solitary greeting and query of how the other is doing, and that was that.

On this day, however, Callum was greeted in the homeroom by a patronising voice.

"Aah, morning, nerd," rang out as soon as Callum opened the door, and Callum internally winced as he recognised the voice instantly. It was the biggest culprit of his bullying, and one of the star athletes of the school.

Callum shot the person a quizzical look. She was notorious for being late to any class she shared with Calllum, most notably Magical History and Theory.

She'd perched herself on one of the tables at the front of the room, her right foot sitting on the table so her knee was bent up in front of her, showing her ripped black jeans, the other dangling off the table. Her white hair hung slightly below her shoulders, and sat on top of her purple long sleeve shirt, which matched her eyes. Eyes that were currently boring into Callum's skull as he took in her appearance.

Why did she have to be so pretty? It was bad enough that her teasing would often leave Callum stuttering, and feeling weak and awkward as it was, but Callum found it a personal insult that she was pretty enough to leave him flustered regardless.

"Rayla," he greeted quietly, eyes shifting to the floor as he avoided eye contact. "You're early."

Rayla snorted at his weak retort. "Class observation, brainiac." Callum just closed his eyes at the obvious taunt, and said nothing as he headed to his usual spot at the back of the class, when Rayla's voice stopped him in his tracks. "But Viren called me in here early, said he wanted to speak to… _us_," she spat out the last word like it was a toxin.

Calum froze in place, dread filling his system. A week ago, Harrow had mentioned in passing that there were a few students who were really struggling with their Magical classes, and even though Callum was a human, he was prodigious with the theoretical side, and Harrow had asked if he would be willing to tutor someone.

Nobody knew how prodigious Callum was at the _physical _side of magic too. That was his secret, and his alone.

But foolishly, Callum had agreed to Harrow's request.

"Oh no," Callum mumbled, hand coming to rest on his forehead, before shifting slightly so he could rub his eyes. He then glared up at the ceiling. Did the universe really despise him this much?

"Oh no, _what_?" Rayla questioned venomously, startling Callum out of his dread. He glanced over his shoulder at her, but quickly looked away again, almost physically squirming under her vicious stare. Callum growled in his throat at his stupidity, how could he forget elves had superior hearing, he should've kept his thoughts to himself, but _of course_ he'd bring her attention back onto him.

He was saved by the door. Well, partially saved, as Viren entered, like a judge who was about to reveal Callum's sentence. The deputy headmaster seemed startled for a moment to find Rayla perched on one of the desks, and Callum stood in an aisle with his back to the door, but then remembered why they were both here.

"Ah, Rayla, thank you for coming in early," Viren spoke cooly, as his placed his things on his desk at the front of the classroom. "You must be wondering why I have?" He questioned, sitting down on his chair. Rayla hummed a confirmation, raising an eyebrow in the teachers direction. "Well, it's about your performance in your… _magical _classes," Viren continued. His tone when he spoke of magical classes caused Callum to turn around and give him an unnoticed look.

Being the head of the Dark Magic classes, and a _human_ \- who supposedly were unable to do primal magic, Viren had never appreciated the teachings of it at this school, but Callum had never heard him so brazenly disregard it in his tone.

"Why are we having this conversation with him here?" There was an edge to Rayla's tone that intrigued Callum, one he struggled to place. It was almost fear, but she'd attempted to bury it under a lot of venom.

With one comment, Viren gave Callum his sentence. "Callum here has signed up to be a tutor, and your professor has indicated to me that Callum is a natural, and would be a good fit to tutor you."

Both teens blinked in response, and for once, their eyes met without Rayla glaring at him. Callum attempted to offer her a small smile, but Rayla had already turned back around and was protesting the statement.

"Rayla!" Viren cut across her, his voice loud. "This is not optional. If you fail this class again this year, you will be held back again and won't graduate," Viren's tone was demeaning, but it's content had Callum stunned. Rayla had been held back a year. Risking a glance at the Moonshadow elf, Callum felt his heart pang with sympathy, she looked like she'd seen a ghost. Callum had never seen her look so helpless, it was such a bizarre look on her usually confident and arrogant features that it was almost enough to give him vertigo.

Apparently that wasn't something many people knew about, and something she _didn't _want people knowing about.

"O-Okay," Rayla stammered out quietly.

"Excellent," Viren nodded, "you will meet three times a week during your free periods, and report to Professor Lujanne at the end of every friday to report your progress. If you are not showing any signs of improvement, arrangements will be made for further sessions outside of school hours. Do you understand?"

Both of the teens nodded in unison.

"Very good," Viren continued, leaning back in his chair. "Now, Rayla, it would be good if you could actually take a _seat_."

Rayla was so shellshocked at what had happened that she did so without argument. Callum was still stood in the aisle in shock. Dread was flowing through his veins and he could feel his skin starting to crawl, and knot forming in his chest.

_Not now, please_. He thought to himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He couldn't afford to lose it like this right here, right now.

"Callum?" Rayla's voice snapped his attention, and strangely, cooled the sensations that were building in his body. His eyes flicked to the girl in question, who was observing him with a peculiar expression from her seated position.

"Y-Yes?" He stammered quietly, once again quickly averting his gaze to avoid prolonged eye contact.

"We have free period after lunch, so I'll meet you in the library," Rayla practically ordered, her tone and demeanour swiftly switching to one that Callum was more familiar with.

But one he was beginning to suspect was false.

The rest of the day, up until lunch, seemed to pass in a blur of nerves for Callum. He suddenly seemed very aware of Rayla's presence. Normally, he did his best to avoid paying any attention to the other students during classes, Rayla specifically, but today, knowing he was going to be spending a whole hour alone, attempting to teach her, well, his brain seemed to be determined to pick her out in every class.

Callum just accepted the things that were said about him by the other students, after all, none of them were saying anything worse than what he already thought about himself, but there was something about the way Rayla had reacted to him finding out about her being held back a year that resonated inside him.

When the bell rang for lunch, he was startled out of his thoughts, and was slow to leave his classroom, as his attention kept getting drawn to Rayla, who was joking around with a couple of her friends, about to step outside the door.

Her two friends exited the room first, and as Rayla went to exit, her eyes locked onto Callum's from the other side of the class. The joyous smile that was on her face slipped slightly, but instead of transforming into the mocking sneer that Callum was accustomed to receiving from her, she gave him an almost quizzical look.

It was then that Callum realised that this was the longest he'd held eye contact with his primary bully, but he didn't feel threatened or awkward. He gave her a half smile, before scooping up his things. Because he'd taken his eyes off Rayla, he didn't notice the frown that formed on her face before she left the room.

Callum's plan was to spend lunch in the library, and then wait for Rayla up there for their tutoring session. Thinking ahead, as he entered the library, he scanned some of the shelves for a few textbooks on Magical History and Theory. The library was a very large room, with bookshelves lining all the walls, up to 7 feet high, in addition to those, there were multiple circular bookshelves popped up across the room, along with many tables and chairs.

Callum found three or four decent looking textbooks, and headed to the far corner of the library, and sat down at a table in the corner, which was isolated from the rest of the library.

Placing the books on the table, he slipped into a chair and took out his sketchbook from its satchel, and turned to his most recent sketch. It was a drawing of a photograph that was up in his bedroom, a picture of his mother giving him a piggyback in a park, surrounded by violet flowers. Both of them had beaming smiles on their faces and Callum could almost hear the laughter in his mind as he took a moment to just look at the drawing.

Tears prickled at his eyes, and he took a breath to compose himself before he carried on his work, his photographic memory allowing him to perfectly replicate the picture without needing to look at it.

The thing about Callum, when he started drawing or reading, he'd get drawn in so easily, and so much, that his surroundings could disappear from him, so when somebody coughed _directly _next to him, he almost leapt out of his skin.

Rayla stood next to him with her hands on her hips, a bemused expression on her face. "You are such easy pickings."

Callum just raised an eyebrow at her, before he glanced at the time on his phone. "And you're late," he replied, as their free period had started ten minutes ago; he'd been so invested in his sketching that he had completely lost track of time.

Rayla scoffed. "Like you care, you were so busy that you didn't know I was here! Like you even want to be here!" She retorted, huffing at him and crossing her arms over her chest, turning her head petulantly to one side. Callum frowned at her dismissive attitude towards him, he was used to her making fun of him, but not doubting his intentions.

"Actually, I do," Callum replied, leaning back in his chair and looking up at Rayla's face, which turned back to him with a surprised expression written on it at his comment. "I know you don't like me, Rayla, but I want to help you do well."

For the briefest moment there was a flicker of softness across Rayla's face, so quickly that Callum was sure he'd misunderstood the expression. "O-oh," Rayla stuttered slightly, before a frown stretched across her lips. "Why would you want to help _me_?"

There was an unspoken question in there that both of them could recognise, _after all I've done to you_. This was what Callum answered.

"Everyone deserves a second chance," he replied, his eyes briefly dropped to the drawing of his mother, before he realised it was on full display and quickly shut his sketchbook. "My mom was keen to raise me on that," he added, looking back at Rayla and praying she hadn't seen the drawing, and if she had, that she didn't read between the lines.

"Very noble of you, nerd," Rayla teased, rolling her eyes and taking a seat opposite him. Callum raised an eyebrow at her. There had been an underlying tone of_ fondness_ in her voice. "Let's get started, shall we?" Rayla prompted, getting out her own textbooks and notebooks.

And that's how it went. For the next few weeks they met in that secluded corner of the library and Callum found himself enjoying spending time with her. He highly doubted that Rayla felt the same way, as she still teased him relentlessly, but he could've sworn that everytime she called him a nerd, or boffin, or geek, that there was a hint of something in her tone, something vastly more pleasant than the mocking, arrogant one he had grown used to.

They'd even exchanged phone numbers, with Rayla suggesting it. She claimed that it was to make it easier to arrange sessions, but Callum was almost certain she was blushing as she did it. But then he'd talk himself out of it. There was no way a couple of sessions a week had changed it from her hating him to liking him.

But it was working for her, whatever it was about their dynamic, or the way Callum taught her, but her grade was improving, and Professor Lujanne couldn't believe it. It was working for Callum too, his confidence was improving, he was able to hold eye contact with her without feeling like he was going to be sick. But most importantly, his anxiety attacks had been so much less frequent, instead of having one seemingly every other day, he had gone a whole week without having an episode.

Callum had also started sketching Rayla. He couldn't help it. She was so pretty, Callum couldn't help but attempt to replicate that beauty in his sketchbook.

That's what Callum found himself doing whilst he awaited Rayla's arrival for their next session. There was this thing she did, when she was really concentrating, her brows would furrow, and her tongue would poke out the corner of her mouth and then when she got it, her entire face would light up. Callum had seen some vibrant things studying magic, but Rayla's eyes when she was excited topped the lot. So he was attempting to draw both.

That was when Rayla crept up next to him, with him not noticing her arrival until it was too late. "Whatcha doing?" She questioned in a singsong tone, plonking herself down in the chair next to Callum, rather than her usual position of opposite.

Callum couldn't shut his sketchbook quickly enough, and when he tried to, Rayla's hand landed on top of the page. On top of his hand, too, but he tried to ignore the way that sent his heart racing.

"W-What's this?" She stammered in a quiet voice, shifting Callum's hand gently off the page, and sliding her sketchbook over to her with her other one. Callum was so embarrassed and nervous he couldn't move, he could feel that familiar ball of stress in the pit of his stomach start to form.

"I-I'm sorry," Callum whispered quietly, looking away from Rayla to hide his shame and guilt.

There was a moments silence, where Callum risked a glance at Rayla, who was staring at him incredulously. "Sorry? For what?" She asked, confused.

Callum blinked a couple of times in her direction. "For… that?" He replied, his tone equally as confused as Rayla's. He gestured with his hand towards the sketchbook, which made him realise that Rayla was still holding his hand from when she'd moved it off the page. Heat rose to his cheeks.

"Is that an answer or a question?" Rayla teased softly, but playfully, leaning her face in closer to Callum's, causing his blush to deepen. Rayla slid the sketchbook back over, and then rested her cheek on the palm of her spare hand, which was propped up by her elbow. She carefully watched Callum's expression. "Is that how beautiful I look to you?" She questioned, slipping her hand around so that their fingers linked.

Callum thought he might faint.

His silence was enough of an answer for Rayla, as she leaned in towards his face and kissed his cheek. "You're not too bad to look at yourself," she added playfully, squeezing his hand and smiling genuinely at him.

Callum gaped like a fish. No one had ever told him anything like that, let alone his crush and previously biggest bully.

"What's up, cat got your tongue, dummy?" Rayla once more rested her cheek on her palm, giving her a better view of Callum's tomato red face. Her tone was so playful, so affectionate, that Callum almost needed to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

The way she called him dummy made his heart swell.

"Dummy is better than nerd," he blurted out. Rayla's eyebrow quirked up in bemusement, before she let out a giggle. Callum was still shocked out of his mind, but he looked at Rayla's laughing face and couldn't help but smile.

He could definitely get used to this kind of teasing.


	14. Day 14: Sightseeing

Rayla's second visit to Katolis' Castle was so remarkably different from her first that she couldn't believe it had happened in the same lifetime.

When she'd first been here, almost a decade ago now, she'd been an assassin, with an aim of killing the King and the Prince, in the name of justice, and Xadia. But Rayla had left the castle with a mission of even greater importance.

Rayla had scaled the side of a cliff to sneak into the castle, and avoided all the guards until she spotted someone who definitely wasn't a guard, wandering the corridors alone looking for someone. A perfect target. Or so she thought. The boy had gotten away from her, until he backed himself into a corner. He'd distracted her with a debate on ethics and then managed to escape again, with his younger brother in tow - her target, Prince Ezran.

Now that boy was King, one of the most beloved that Katolis had ever known, and he was equally respected in Xadia. He was also one of Rayla's best friends.

The _other_ boy, well, Rayla had travelled the world with him, they'd successfully prevented a war, returning the Dragon Prince to his mother and ending a millennia of mistrust and hatred.

Of course, that hadn't abated overnight since Zym's return, but their actions had gone a long way on the Xadian side. Since then, the duo had gone back and forth between the Pentarchy and Xadia, promoting the message of peace. They were succeeding, there had been a couple of skirmishes and disagreements, but generally, humans and elves were getting along.

No one better than Callum and Rayla, however.

They were inseparable. You didn't get Rayla without Callum, nor Callum without Rayla. They were a physical representation, to everyone, of what the new world could, and hopefully would, be like.

Callum had asked her to teach him elven languages, and in return Rayla had asked to be taught sign language. He'd met Tinker, he saved Runaan from the coin. She'd met his Aunt Amaya at the breach, and instantly won her over with her commitment to peace, but most importantly, her commitment to Callum. They knew each other inside and out, nothing was a secret between the pair.

Including their love for one another. That had been confessed by Callum in a Xadian inn before the war had ended, and they'd been together ever since.

Callum and Rayla had become borderline iconic, some called them heroes. Tales of their adventure had been passed around and exaggerated, and there was always a fanfare whenever, wherever, they visited on diplomatic business.

However, the only place they'd never visited, political needs or otherwise, was Katolis. They hadn't ever been needed there for diplomatic reasons, and they were too busy going around the world to visit for pleasure purposes. Ezran had been ruling fabulously, with Amaya, Corvus, Claudia and Soren as his closest advisors. The latter duo had redeemed themselves by finding and turning in their father, the traitor, Viren, after they had unwittingly assisted his escape. Due to Ezran's fine leadership, Callum and Rayla hadn't been needed. Callum still kept in touch with Ezran using his magic, but the brothers hadn't been at home at the same time at any point in the past decade.

They had met at meetings, in Xadian towns and the other sectors of the Pentarchy, when Ezran had been required, but a home visit from Callum was _long_ overdue.

So, because it was coming up to Callum's twenty fifth birthday, they decided, as a dual celebration for that, and their ten year anniversary, that Callum and Rayla were going to take a much needed, and much deserved, vacation.

Having already visited Runaan and Tinker in Rayla's hometown, they were finally heading back to Katolis, where this whole thing had started.

The excitement Callum was feeling about returning home was so palpable, that Rayla could feel it radiating off him in waves as they rode on their steeds towards Callum's home, and it was infectious.

The castle was visible in the distance, and the sight of it had Rayla bubbling with nerves, she desperately wanted to make a good impression on Callum's people. It was a bizarre sensation, one she'd never really experienced before, Rayla had always been comfortable in who she was, ever since Callum had helped her on the road to finding her place in the world. So to suddenly crave approval? From humans?

Rayla felt very odd about it.

The castle was directly ahead of them down a straight path, but still some distance away, when Callum suddenly gestured for Rayla to guide her horse off at an angle.

"Where are we going, dummy?" Rayla called out from behind Callum, urging her horse forwards to close the gap. "Aren't we heading straight to see Ez?"

Callum turned and smiled at Rayla, but she knew him well enough to see that there was an edge to him. This was going to be important.

"There's something I want you to see," Callum replied softly, turning his head back front to lead the way. "And someone I want you to meet."

Rayla smiled softly at him, and when Callum turned to check that she was following him, a doting expression fell onto his face.

"Love ya," she shot at him in a playful tone.

"Love you more!" He blurted back, before leading his horse into a canter, ensuring Rayla couldn't retaliate.

"Ooh I'll get ya, ya cheater!" Rayla shouted at him, after blinking a couple of times in surprise, then leading her horse into a charge after Callum's.

Their joyous laughter echoed through the forest, as Rayla fruitlessly gave chase to Callum, his head start giving him enough of a lead to hold onto.

After fifteen or so minutes of relentless cackling and determined chasing, the trees began to thin out, and large cliff faces came into view.

Rayla was taking in the sights, when she realised Callum had slowed down to allow her to catch up. His face was slightly rosy, both from the laughter and the wind pelting against it as they had galloped. There was a dopey, lopsided smile on his face that made Rayla's heart melt. It was incredible the effect he could have on her, even after an entire decade. By Moonshadow elf standards, the pair were married, but they hadn't had a human wedding ceremony, and neither of them had discussed it recently, both content to be bound to each other by Xadian magic.

Either way, Rayla knew Callum was her soul mate, he completed her. He reached out his hand, and they locked their fingers together, and gently guided their horses into a stroll, towards whatever their destination may be. A comfortable silence fell over the duo, only disrupted by the clopping of the horses hooves.

They were now travelling entirely in a canyon, with forty foot cliff edged either side. Rayla could tell they were closing in on where Callum was taking her, as there was a subtle shift in his body language. He became slightly tense, and the smile began to drift off his face.

"You okay?" She asked softly, giving his hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze. Callum shot her a sideways smile.

"All good," he answered. "I just can't believe I'm finally bringing you here," his tone reflected his disbelief, creating a delighted smile to cross Rayla's face.

"Well, you promised it would be you and me travelling the world together," she teased, reminding him of a conversation in a cave ten years ago, when she'd been hopelessly lost with her drive and direction in life, beyond their mission to return Zym.

Callum laughed joyously, before a nostalgic expression fell on his face. "Could you imagine what would've happened if Sol Regem had spotted us?"

Rayla's eyes widened at the prospect. "We certainly wouldn't be here now!" She exclaimed, causing them both to chuckle slightly. Rayla looked left and right. "Whenever here is," she added cheekily, winking at Callum.

He merely rolled his eyes. "Here," he gestured grandly in front of him, as the canyon widened, and statues came into view. Callum's voice became quiet. "Is Point Sarai."

It ticked in Rayla's brain for a moment, before she gasped. "You mean…?" Her voice trailed off, unable to ask the question.

"Yeah," Callum breathed out, before shooting Rayla a sideways glance, and a reassuring smile. "Time to meet my mother." He joked, but there was an edge to his voice that Rayla couldn't miss. She could tell just from that how much he wished he were introducing her to his mother for real. It made her sad.

They rode in silence, until Callum disconnected their hands and dismounted his steed. Guiding it over to a nearby pole, he tied it's reigns around it, before turning to face the nearest statue, heaving a sigh.

Rayla mimicked his actions, before standing next to him and linking their hands again. He offered her a small smile, and she retaliated with a gentle squeeze of her hand.

Rayla turned her gaze to the statue of the late Queen Sarai. She was on her own mount, leaning over slightly and holding out her hand. Rayla was struck by the incredible likeness of the statue to Callum's sketches. But what hit her the most was the aura that the statue gave off.

She looked welcoming, loving and caring, but also regal, fierce, not to be messed with. She looked like a Queen.

"Do you want to light a candle?" Callum queried, snapping her out of her thoughts. Rayla smiled softly and nodded. The duo sauntered forwards, Callum picking up an unused candle and placing it at the foot of the statue, before guiding their conjoined hands onto the flammable tip. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and muttered an incantation quietly.

The candle roared to life, and once it was lit, Callum and Rayla knelt before the statue.

"How long has it been since you've been here?" Rayla asked quietly, breaking the silence that sat over them. Callum sighed.

"The last time I came was the week before we met," he answered sadly, using his free hand to rub his eyes, which had begun to tear up. "You're so like her in so many ways," Callum added, removing his hand from his face and giving Rayla a huge, but sad, smile. "You're both fierce warriors, with strong ethics and know what you believe in and fight for it no matter what."

Rayla felt her own eyes prickling with tears at Callum's praise. "You're both so full of love, and compassionate, and _care_ about everything living." His voice oozed with pride. "She might've loved you more than she loved me!" He joked, before he coughed back a sob.

Rayla let the tears flow freely as Callum spoke offering him gentle squeezes of reassurance.

"Mom," Callum started quietly, turning his gaze up to his mother's face. "This is Rayla, my best friend, my love, my soul mate," Callum introduced breathily, turning at beaming at Rayla as he spoke, love pouring out of his expression.

Rayla had to fight back a sob of her own as affection and sadness waved over her in equal measure.

"Hi, Your Majesty," Rayla greeted, turning her head to look into Sarai's sculpted eyes. "Or should I say mother-in-law?" She joked quietly, earning a small, teary laugh from Callum. "Your son is incredible. He's saved my life so many times and given me so much purpose." Rayla lowered her head momentarily, before looking back up with determination. "I love him so much and you would be so proud. I know I am."

Rayla fixed Callum with such an adoring look that he thought his heart might explode. She turned back to Sarai's statue, and a soft smile rested on her expression. The setting sun had drifted low enough so that it shone down onto the duo, but as the rays came down, they hit Sarai's statue, giving her a serene, ethereal glow. Rayla could've sworn it happened whilst she gave her speech.

"Thank you, Love," Callum squeezed her hand, his voice full of love and sadness in equal measure.

"It's just how I feel," Rayla replied lovingly, squeezing Callum's hand once more. They stood up in unison, before Rayla did an obscure hand gesture, pumping her free hand to her chest multiple times, before placing her palm flat over her heart, then to her temple, then on top of one of her horns. She then placed that palm flat on Callum's chest, over his heart, before bringing it up to his temple, the top of his head, then resting the palm facing upwards and blowing it towards Sarai's statue.

Callum watched her in awe, and felt his heart swell with affection. It was a sight to behold. They caught each other's eyes, and beaming, tearful, but loving expressions rested on both their faces. Callum's eyes then drifted past Rayla's, and an even more awestruck look crossed his face.

"Wow," he breathed out, causing Rayla to turn and look as well, and she had an identical reaction.

Off in the distance, through the canyon, was a vast, shining royal blue sea, with the oranges and yellows of the sunset radiating off the waves.

"What a sight," Rayla commented dreamily. Callum turned to look at her and his breath was stolen from him. The sun was resting on the side of Rayla's face, and with the awestruck look on her face, she literally dazzled him with her beauty. She was positively _radiant_.

"Yeah," Callum breathed out an agreement. "Stunning."

His dazed tone caused Rayla to look back at him, and her heart swooned at the affection pulsating from his eyes.

"Oh dummy," she said affectionately, placing her hand on the back of his neck and pulling him in for a passionate kiss. One he returned in equal measure.

They stood, in the ethereal glow of the setting sun reflecting off the sea and off of Sarai's statue, in a loving embrace.

When they pulled away, Rayla rested her chin on Callum's shoulder, having to lean up slightly to do so now, and cheekily breathed into his ear.

"And for the record, I loved you first."


	15. Day 15: Callum's Birthday

Callum felt a familiar rush of adrenaline when he awoke the next morning.

He had finally taken Rayla to Point Sarai, after all their years together, and shared a touching, loving moment under his mother's gaze. They had stayed there, locked in each other's arms until the sun had set so low that it had stopped reflecting off the sea.

The duo had mounted back onto their rides, and headed straight for the castle. Callum knew Rayla had appreciated the diversion, he could feel her nerves about being introduced, formally, to his people, so he had effectively got two birds with one stone, he had finally visited his mother with Rayla, and helped delay their arrival to a late hour, to avoid a huge fanfare.

They still got a huge fanfare, however, it was from their close family and friends. Callum teared up as he embraced his brother, who was now almost a foot taller than him, and they held each other for some time, before Ez gestured for Rayla to join the hug.

"Hey, little man," Rayla had greeted fondly, stepping into the embrace. Then came excited squeals from Claudia, who gushed over Rayla, causing the Moonshadow elf to flush profusely. The two had struck up a bizarre friendship in Callum's eyes.

Claudia brought out a girly side of Rayla, one that Callum found adorable, but unsettling at the same time, he was so used to his strong, independent, stubborn ex-assassin, that when she got together with Claudia and they got going, he was almost struck with vertigo. It happened quite a few times before political meetings, where Rayla would go to Claudia for advice on what to wear, and almost every time, she came back looking outrageously beautiful. Not that she wasn't anyway, but seeing her dressed up did something to Callum.

They'd had a swift dinner, before Ez suggested they get an early night, they had a lot planned for the following day.

Callum found himself smirking into his pillow as the excitement overwhelmed him. It helped that his limbs were currently entangled with his soulmates'. He still felt the same excitement for his birthday now, as he did when he was a child. Of course, when he could finally bring himself to leave Rayla's warm, comforting embrace, he'd do what he always started his birthday doing.

He'd resketch their family portrait. He loved to see how far he was progressing as an artist, and by now, it had become a tradition he would never break. He sighed happily, and placed a soft, light kiss on Rayla's forehead, earning a sleepy smile from the still dozing elf. Callum looked at her adoringly for a moment, before he attempted to slip out of the cuddle they found themselves in, both to use the loo, and to start his sketch before Rayla woke up and they could begin the celebrations that Ezran had planned.

He and Rayla were going to be formally presented to the people of Katolis today. Ezran was also going to have his royal portrait done, having refused to get it done without Callum and Rayla present, much to Opeli's constant displeasure.

As Callum attempted to gently wriggle and shift out of Rayla's grasp, she grumbled in protest and ended up pulling Callum in closer. All without stirring from her sleep.

Callum grunted slightly at how tightly her arms were wrapped around his waist, but couldn't help but smile lovingly at the top of her head as she nestled her face into his chest, letting out a content sigh.

Everyday felt like a birthday when he woke up next to her.

Deciding he was capable of holding in his need to use the toilet, and could wait until later to start his sketch, Callum slid back into a prone position, slowly so not to wake Rayla. He managed to tuck his arm under her head, so she was using him for a pillow, and shifted himself so he was face to face with her.

Callum lightly, affectionately bumped his nose against hers, before resting his forehead on hers and just watched her sleeping.

"Happy birthday, dummy," Rayla mumbled sleepily, not yet opening her eyes, but gently reciprocating Callum's earlier nose bumping. She cracked one eye open and smiled brightly at him, before pressing her lips to his.

Callum couldn't help but smile into the kiss. A decade on and the butterflies were still as strong as they were when they first started dating, his feelings for her, however, seemed to grow everyday.

"Morning, Love," Callum greeted, once their lips had parted and Rayla had rested her forehead on his once more. "That is _always_ the best birthday present," Callum quipped, smirking as he propped his head up on his fist. Rayla's eyes sparkled.

"I can guarantee I've got a better one for you," she replied, a playful smirk crossing her lips.

Callum raised an eyebrow at that. He and Rayla had agreed to stop giving each other gifts for anniversaries and birthdays five years ago, as they both agreed that each other's company was more than enough.

"What? I didn't think we did presents anymore?" Callum queried, Rayla just smirked more.

"You'll find out later, but we've got a lot of things to do before then, so chop chop, lazy prince!" Rayla ordered, climbing out of bed and lightly, playfully slapping Callum's arm to get him going.

"Alright, alright!"

It bothered Callum for the rest of the day. What had she gotten him? Why had she decided to suddenly start getting gifts for him again? Should he get one for her birthday in a couple of weeks?

He was so distracted he missed half of Ezran's speech about him and Rayla as Ez was announcing them to the people of Katolis, on the same balcony that Viren had attempted to proclaim them both dead, ten years previous.

Callum and Rayla stood just inside the castle, dressed to the nines, awaiting Ezran's signal for then to step out and join him on the balcony. Callum had a navy blue suit jacket on, with a maroon shirt buttoned up underneath, with his scarf around his neck and black trousers. It was his standard political garb.

But Rayla looked exceptional. Normally, for their diplomatic meetings, she wore a fancier version of her old assassins outfit. Today, however, she was wearing a royal green dress, with a strap that tied around her neck. Around her waist she had a strap with a nebula esque design on it, connected in the middle by a moon shaped buckle. The dress was tight fitting, until it reached her knees where it blossomed out. She had even deigned to let Callum do her hair this morning, where he had delighted in adding a braid which hung down the side of her face.

In Moonshadow culture, the length of a braid that was done by a significant other specified their desire for the length of the relationship, matching it with the length of the braid itself.

Even after ten years, Rayla still blushed when Callum would proclaim he'd run out of hair to braid.

Callum had been heavily distracted by her earlier comment about his gift, but not enough to miss the nervous energy rolling off of her.

"Hey," Callum said softly, grabbing her attention with a gentle, reassuring squeeze of their already conjoined hands. His action earned a smile from Rayla, but even that was dripping with nerves. "It'll be okay, Ray, they'll love you."

Rayla let out a nervy breath. "I hope you're right. Gods, I've never wanted to make an impression on humans as much as I do right now," she offered Callum a cheeky look. "If someone had told fourteen year old me that, I'd have probably stabbed whoever it was."

They shared a light chuckle, before Callum separated their hands, and wrapped an arm around her waist, pressing a kiss in the gap between her horns, earning a grunt of frustration from Rayla.

"I hate that you can do that now," she groaned, displaying her displeasure at Callum's growth spurt. He laughed joyously.

"I don't think you hate anything about me," he quipped, shifting his position slightly to give her a lopsided smirk. Rayla rolled her eyes.

"Bold assumption," Rayla retorted, before her deadpan expression switched into an adoring one. "But a correct assumption."

They shared another doting smile, and a swift kiss, before they heard Ezran's voice rising.

"And so, after ten years away, where he and his partner have been spreading and instilling peace around the Pentarchy and Xadia, it is my absolute pleasure to present to you, my best friend, my brother, the first human Archmage in history, on his birthday no less, Prince Callum!" Ezran was also dressed in his best gear, and he leant away from the crowd to gesture towards where Callum was standing.

Callum gave Rayla's hand one last reassuring squeeze, and a beaming smile, which she returned much less nervously than before, then he stepped forward onto the balcony to a raucous reception. He waved at the crowd, before stepping towards Ezran and giving him a massive brotherly bear hug. When the separated, Ezran gestured to him to step forward, to introduce Rayla.

"Thank you!" Callum began, shooting another glance over his shoulder at Rayla, who stood with her hands joined in front of her, nervously shifting from foot to foot. "It's an incredible feeling, after all these years, to be back home." This earned a large round of applause. "But as His Majesty had said, I have not returned alone." Murmurs ran through the crowd gathered, and he could assume that they were discussing the rumours that spread throughout the human kingdoms about he and Rayla's exploits. "I would like you all to welcome into the Katolis family, my partner for the last decade." Callum turned to look directly into Rayla's eyes. "Who guided me through Xadia to return the lost Dragon Prince. Who taught me that everything we had learned about elves was falsified propaganda."

Their eyes met across the divide between them, and Callum gave her a soft smile. "Who at first, I didn't trust," his tone shifted to jokey momentarily, earning a roll of Rayla's eyes, and a soft laughter from the crowd. "But who became my best friend, who always had my back, my partner, my love," there was a loud aww-ing from the population gathered. "My soulmate."

Rayla's expression was one of the softest he'd ever seen, and even from their distance he could see the tears glistening in her violet eyes.

"So, please, give your most generous welcome to Lady, soon to be Princess, Rayla!" Callum exclaimed, gesturing his arm to where Rayla stood, who took a deep breath, to steady her nerves, and the emotions that Callum's speech had stirred, before striding confidently forward.

As soon as she stepped into view, the crowd erupted into applause, which caused a bright smile to slowly stretch its way across her face. She caught Callum's eyes as she stepped up next to him, and couldn't help but roll hers at the smug, I-told-you-so smirk on his face. She slipped her hand into his, and they stood together to wave at the people gathered below them.

"Thank you," Rayla whispered to Callum, giving him a genuine, bright smile, which was instantly returned.

"You're most welcome, Love."

A couple of hours later, they were stood in the throne room, awaiting the royal painter. Rayla was having a conversation with Amaya and Gren, when Ezran strode over to where Callum was leaning against a pillar, watching his partner having her conversation.

"So what's bothering you?" Ezran asked cheekily, resting his elbow on Callum's shoulder, causing his older, shorter, brother to shoot him a glare.

"What do you mean?" Callum asked, raising an eyebrow. Ezran rolled his eyes.

"You've been distracted all day," Ezran replied, like it was completely obvious. "I know when you've got something on your mind, your hand twitches like you're itching to sketch, which I _know _you do when you're focussing on something."

Callum blinked at Ezran's observation in surprise. "How…?"

Ezran shrugged. "The amount of meetings I have with people I don't know, and don't know if I can trust, you start to pick up on little body language ticks. And, I just know you," Ezran said nonchalantly, smirking at his brother.

Callum shook his head in disbelief. "Rayla said she had a gift for me." It was Ezran's turn to raise an eyebrow, but this time in confusion.

"Why is that a problem?" He queried.

"We agreed to stop giving each other gifts _years _ago," Callum answered, turning his gaze back to where Rayla was signing with Amaya, bright smiles on both the warriors' faces. Rayla caught his eye, and her smile turned loving in an instant, causing Callum's heart to swell.

"I'm sure it'll be amazing, what are you worrying about?" Ezran questioned, a slight tone in his voice which had Callum suspicious.

"Do you know?" Callum asked, turning back to look at the young King, who shrugged in response.

"No," he answered honestly, before offering Callum a wide smile. "But it's Rayla, she loves you, she knows you, and I know that she wouldn't want anything in return."

Callum smiled, "You're right." At that moment, the painter scurried into the room.

"I hope you and Rayla have prepared for this," Ezran said with another glance at Callum. "I want you both in this."

That was a present to Callum in itself, but it wasn't until after dinner that he got Rayla's. She'd dismissed herself from dinner early, and told Callum that she'd be waiting for him.

He had expected her to be in their room, but as he was about to enter the bedroom, a guard told him that Rayla had said to inform Callum that she was heading up to the North Tower, and to meet her there. His intrigue had peaked.

At the top of the North tower was a guard post, to ensure that someone had a view over the whole of Katolis at all times, to detect and alert of any aerial, or distant, threats to the castle. Callum opened the door in a hurry, expecting to see Rayla in there, but the room was empty.

He walked in and glanced around at the various tables and viewing equipment that was distributed around the room. There were wide gaps all around the circular room, which gave anyone in there a 360 degree view, the gaps were interrupted by thin walls, that offered the rooms roof structural support.

"Rayla?" Callum called out, glancing around the room in confusion. Where was she?

He got his answer almost immediately, as her head popped into view, upside down, from one of the windows.

"Hey!" She exclaimed brightly, before flipping into the room. "Come on, the view is _incredible_!"

Callum smirked at her excitement, and let her drag him by the hand to the window. She casually hopped up onto the ledge, before pulling herself up onto the sloped roof. Leaning back down, Rayla offered Callum her hand, and he let her pull him up. They shuffled up the tower roof, before coming to a stop side-by-side, and Rayla let her head drop onto Callum's shoulder. Years of practice allowing her to do this without stabbing him with her horns.

They gazed out over the expanse in front of them, dusk was settling in, and there seemed to be light radiating up from the city below them.

"This is amazing," Callum murmured, his eyes wide in awe, somewhat wishing he could have his sketchbook to draw it. He shifted his eyes to Rayla. "What made you come up here? I was never allowed as a child!"

"I wanted to give you an amazing view to go with your surprise," Rayla replied, smirking cheekily up at Callum's face, which contorted into a look of confusion.

"I could've sworn we agreed not to do gifts anymore?" Callum replied, shooting Rayla a pointed look. Her smirk only widened, and _something _glistened in her eyes.

"Well, this surprise isn't just for you, to be honest," Rayla answered vaguely, slipping her arm around Callum's waist, before taking her left hand and grabbing Callum's, placing it in her lap, and drawing circles on his palm with her fingers.

Callum was even more intrigued now, so much so it was threatening to drift into frustration.

"What's going on, Ray?" He asked quietly, his gaze falling to where Rayla's hands were dancing across his palm. Something in the back of his mind was itching at the sensation of the pattern she was drawing.

"I'm trying to tell you, dummy," she replied fondly, gesturing down to her fingers. Callum frowned, but focussed on her movements as she restarted the pattern.

I… AM… PREG-

Rayla didn't get to draw any more letters, as Callum had literally scooped her up into a huge hug, joyously laughter resonating from his mouth.

"Oh my Gods!" Callum exclaimed excitedly, pressing a kiss to Rayla's lips with each word. "I love you so much!" His gaze fell down to Rayla's stomach, where he had subconsciously placed his hand. "Both of you," he added softly, his eyes drifting back up to Rayla's, which were shining with tears of joy.

Without a shadow of a doubt Callum's favourite birthday _ever_.


	16. Day 16: Moonlight Kiss

Callum was positively buzzing. It had been the most incredible birthday he had ever had.

He'd introduced Rayla, formally, to the people of Katolis, who had given her as good a reception as they had him. Then, Ezran had wanted him and Rayla to be included in his royal portrait, something that delighted Callum.

But the best thing to happen on his birthday happened on the roof of the North Tower of the castle. Rayla had left him a message to meet her there, and when he'd arrived, she'd pulled him onto the roof, and in the most intimate way, told him she was pregnant, whilst they bathed in the light of the setting sun.

They were going to have a baby. He was going to be a dad. He'd never felt so excited in his life. If they hadn't been on a roof, Callum might've scooped Rayla up and spun her round and round in his excitement, in said he settled for cuddling the life out of her. Callum had shifted her over so she was sat in between his legs, her back resting on his torso, his arms wrapped around her so his palms were resting on her stomach. The sky had shifted into black, and the stars twinkled up above, the moon beginning to shine brighter and brighter above the couple.

"How long have you known?" Callum whispered into her ear, leaning his forehead against the back of her head, pressing a gentle kiss to the back of her neck, earning a shiver from Rayla.

"A couple of days," Rayla replied softly, wriggling back further, so she was even closer to Callum, who shifted his head to lean on her left shoulder, their cheeks touching. "Just before we crossed over the Breach, when we stopped in that town and you spent the entire day sleeping?" Rayla added, a playful tone in her voice as she slightly mocked his laziness.

Callum's jaw dropped. "You went and saw a healer?" He questioned, putting two and two together. Rayla hummed an affirmative, as well as slightly nodding. "Did she tell you how far along we are?"

Rayla's heart swelled at his instant use of the word 'we'. "Just under a month," Rayla answered, tilting her head slightly to catch Callum's eyes. "Finally explains that wave of grouchiness I went through," she added teasingly.

Callum rolled his eyes. It certainly did. There had been a period of three weeks where Rayla was snappier than normal, but would instantly apologise for it.

"It does indeed," Callum quipped cheekily, pressing a kiss onto Rayla's cheek to try and appease any anger that might've formed from his teasing.

"You're lucky I love you so much," Rayla replied, shooting him a playful glare.

"I know I am," Callum replied softly and honestly, staring adoringly into Rayla's eyes. Her features softened instantly and dramatically, her expression matching Callum's.

"You dummy," she whispered affectionately, closing her eyes and bumping his nose with hers.

"_Your_ dummy," Callum corrected quietly, voice husky, but full of love and emotion. Rayla's eyes snapped wide open, and met his in an instant.

A vibrant smile launched its way onto her face, and Callum looked at her in awe. The rays of moonlight stretching down from the sky seemed to target her, and her face seemed to literally glow. Her violet eyes were sparkling, overflowing with emotion, that they pulled Callum in and seemed to fix him firmly onto her, and Callum had never felt so lucky in his life.

He thought about all the possibilities, all the things that could've changed in his past so that he never would've met her. So many things could've prevented him from meeting her. But here he was, on the tallest roof of his home, having restored peace to the Pentarchy and Xadia, having learned to be an Archmage, having found his place in the world.

How lucky was he to have found his soulmate on that journey, and grown alongside her? To have a chance to raise a family with her, in this new era of peace.

"You're damn right," she said, giving him a firm, cheeky nod and smirk. There must've been something in Callum's expression that gave away his thoughts, as Rayla's expression turned quizzical, but her smirk only grew. "What?" She asked, her amusement evident in her tone, her eyes searching Callum's face for an answer.

They were so close together he could feel her breath on his face, but couldn't figure out where his heartbeats ended and hers began. In that moment, she was the only thing he could focus on, Rayla was his whole world, and thanks to her, his world was going to expand even further.

"I love you so much," Callum answered, after a couple of minutes of just admiring Rayla, and everything she had done for him. "You're my whole world."

The honesty and intensity with which Callum spoke caused heat to rush into Rayla's face, and her heart to pound. Gods, the things he could do to her after ten years, just with his words alone.

"And you're mine," Rayla replied earnestly, once she recovered from her momentary flustering, cupping the back of his neck with her hand, whilst twisting her body round slightly to give herself better access to him, her right arm sliding around his waist to stabilize her, and to bring him closer.

They smiled dotingly at each other, before Rayla brushed her lips gently across Callum's. She smirked playfully and pulled her face back to rest the tip of her nose against the tip of his.

"Is that all I get?" Callum asked playfully, his eyes flicking between hers, and down to her lips, a smirk also crossing his own. Rayla's expression shifted to an innocent one.

"Well, you say I'm your whole world," she began teasingly, before leaning in as close as she possibly could, without connecting their lips. "Why don't you prove that to me?" She added in a sultry whisper, her breath dancing across Callum's lips in a way that sent a shiver through his body, and caused his eyes to flutter.

"It would be my pleasure," he replied in a matching tone to Rayla's. Green and violet eyes collided in the moonlight once more, just moments before their lips followed suit.

Callum could never find accurate words to describe the sensation of kissing Rayla. It sent waves through his body, powerful enough to leave him utterly breathless and speechless. The best way he could describe it was like his connection to the Sky arcanum. The moment before he used Sky magic, it felt like power was surging through his veins, through his limbs, and then reaching out and manipulating the world around him, then the sensation would leave his body.

Kissing Rayla had the same effect on him, except it had no outlet, so when their lips separated after what seemed like an eternity, he felt like the most powerful being in the world in those moments.

They were both out of breath, and rested their foreheads together. They both breathed deeply, inhaling the others' intoxicating scent. A comfortable, loving silence fell over the pair, as they gazed into each others eyes, only the sound of their breathing disrupting the silence, dazzling smiles on both their faces.

"Ready for round two?" Rayla asked cheekily, after they'd both recovered their breaths, her cheeks still slightly flushed, causing her to glow even brighter in the moonlight.

To Callum, she looked like a Goddess.

"Always," Callum smirked in reply, an expression Rayla matched.

The smirks were gone moments later, when their lips met once more.


	17. Day 17: Braids

"Can I braid your hair?"

The question came so suddenly, and with so much he doesn't know laden with it, that Rayla froze instantaneously.

It had been a week since Callum had proclaimed his love to Rayla after an argument about his safety, and her expandability in their mission to return Zym, prompted by an ambush, in which Callum had been minorly wounded.

They had worked out their issues, and come to an agreement that neither of them were expendable, that there was more likely to be a favourable outcome if they demonstrated how humans and elves could cooperate and work together.

Since then, they had elected to avoid staying in any Xadian towns for the foreseeable future. The ambush had them both slightly on edge, and Callum had acquiesced to Rayla's fervent suggestions of sticking to the wilderness, which had settled her nerves considerably.

They had settled down for evening, setting up a camp in a small cavern, and had cooked dinner together in companionable silence, their synchronicity so on point that they didn't need to communicate when doing domestic tasks around their various campsites throughout their journey.

When they had finished dinner, and adequately fed Zym, Callum and Rayla had sat side-by-side with their shoulders touching, and Callum had pulled out his sketchbook to draw some of the days magnificent sights, and Zym joined them, curled up on Rayla's left hand side.

Rayla had watched for roughly an hour, absolutely in awe at Callum's artistic talents. He could take the most mundane of views, and make it tell a story, without exaggerating what was actually there. He could capture single moments, still images, perfectly, yet somehow bring out the liveliness that was visible to their eyes. Rayla knew nothing about art, but even she could see these remarkable things in his work.

At some point, her head had drifted to rest on his shoulder, and her eyes had started to flutter shut, the warmth of Zym against her leg and the campfire in the middle of the small cavern, along with Callum's comfortable shoulder had Rayla feeling particularly drowsy.

Rayla was pulled out of her dozing by fingers running through her hair, causing her to blearily blink up at the culprit. Whilst she was napping, Callum had gently replaced the sketchbook in his lap with her head, and was smiling affectionately down at her as she blinked the sleep out of her vision. Her legs were crossed underneath her and she was laying slightly sideways.

His fingers running through her hair was making that incredibly difficult to do though.

"Hey, sleepy elf," Callum teased lightly, shifting his hand from her hair to her cheek, and softly wiping some of the sleep crusties from her eyes. Rayla's heart swelled at the gesture, before she acknowledged the nickname, and a playful frown fell on her face.

"Oi, that's my thing, thieving prince!" She quipped back, shifting her body so she was laying flat on her back, legs stretched out, with the back of her head taking up the position on Callum's lap, allowing her to look directly up at her boyfriend.

Callum had the audacity to smirk, before his face softened once more, a sudden curiosity mixing into the affection that was resting in his eyes, and the startling question came.

"Can I braid your hair?"

Rayla's body tensed automatically, her eyes widened in surprise as heat rushed up to her cheeks.

She was wide awake now.

Callum looked rather concerned by her reaction. "I-It's o-okay if n-not," Callum stuttered, gently lifting his hand off of Rayla's head, and bringing it to meet with his other one, nervously twiddling his fingers together.

Rayla felt guilt flood her system at Callum's reaction to her silence, so she reached up and grabbed his hand, pulling it down and back into its previous position on her head, offering him a comforting smile as she did so. Callum looked slightly surprised, but began to play with her hair again, but didn't do anything with it, still seeming marginally hesitant.

"It's okay, dummy," Rayla encouraged quietly, shifting her eyes around Callum. "It's just that braids are a loaded hairstyle with Moonshadow elves," Rayla added, her gaze finding Callum's once more, and smiling softly at him. Callum's fingers continued their ministrations on her head.

"I won't if you don't want me to?" He replied, barely above a whisper, his eyes fixed firmly on his hands, avoiding Rayla's gaze.

Rayla smiled sadly at him, and shifted her head slightly in his lap, to ensure eye contact was made between them. "You just caught me off guard is all," Rayla started. "In our culture, assassins will braid a part of their hair depending on their rank. I was the newbie in our group, so it was a small one on the right side of my hair," Rayla explained, her eyes gleaming over slightly as she recalled some of her lessons.

A deep blush formed on her face. "But if it's done by someone else, it's only ever allowed to be done by your significant other," Rayla added, her eyes finding Callum's again.

Rayla's heart almost stopped at the affection gleaming in his eyes, which was so overwhelming that she could barely speak. "The l-length dictates h-how long your p-partner wants to b-be with you f-for," she stuttered, completely flustered by the intensity of Callum's doting stare.

Callum's admiring expression suddenly changed into a soft dopey smile. "Sounds good, anything else before I start?" He asked cheekily, giving Rayla an adorable lopsided smirk.

Rayla's mouth flopped open like a fish at Callum's sudden confidence.

"N-No, th-that's it," Rayla stammered, before a quizzical expression flickered onto her face as she sat up. "Why the sudden urge to, though?" She queried, fixing Callum with a look over her shoulder as she shifted her body so she was sat directly in front of him.

A sheepish look crossed Callum's face. "Well, I was thinking back on our journey, recalled you had one and thought about how pretty it had looked, and how now I can tell you that," Callum rambled, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, and looking anywhere in the cave apart from at Rayla. "And I used to braid Ezran's hair when he was upset and I've noticed you've been a bit tense since the attack and I -"

Rayla silenced him with a kiss. She'd turned her body whilst he'd been talking, and fed up with his ranting, as adorable as it was, decided to shut him up.

When she pulled away, Rayla couldn't help but giggle at his dumbfounded mien, his mouth slightly agape, eyes as wide as saucers, face flushed a deep scarlet.

Rayla smiled cheekily at him, and placed another kiss on his lips before sitting back.

"C'mon then, rambling prince," she started, tapping him on his nose with her finger. "Show me how long you want us to be together," Rayla quipped, trying to keep the nervous edge out of her tone. This was a big moment for their relationship, even though on the surface it was an innocent act.

Sure, they'd declared that they loved each other, but this would give Rayla an indication of how long Callum wanted them to be together.

Rayla closed her eyes as Callum's hands came up to her cheek. "Which side should I do it on?" He questioned, as Rayla subconsciously leaned into his touch.

"Left," Rayla answered, attempting to steel her nerves.

They sat in silence whilst Callum work, Rayla taking deep, quiet breaths as he worked, as the sensation of his fingers flicking over her skin, as he split and tied her hair, sent shivers down her spine. She cracked one of her eyes open, and her heart swelled with affection.

Callum had his sketching face on. His brow was furrowed in concentration, and his tongue poked out the side of his mouth as he focused intently on making the braid tight and neat.

Rayla closed her eyes to try and fight the blush from rising to her cheeks. She lost track of time, but worry flickered in her chest when after a far to short amount of time, Callum pulled his hands away.

"Umm…" He began, and Rayla's eyes opened, the worry grew, as Callum was giving the braid an odd look.

Callum's eyes locked on hers. "I ran out of hair to braid?" He offered with a sheepish half-shrug, gently lifting the braid forward with his palm, and showing Rayla the completed braid, having used the entirety of the hair available to him.

Rayla's eyes widened, and heat rushed into her cheeks as she lifted her hand up to touch the braid, tentatively, as if it would come completely undone if she did.

Her eyes slowly drifted over to Callum's, and Rayla decided that she couldn't be more in love with him, and had no idea how to verbalise it.

So she showed him with a kiss that had him flustered for a majority of the rest of the evening.

"Alright then, devoted prince," Rayla started up, resting her forehead against his and breathing deeply to recover from the passionate kiss, looking him dead in the eyes. "_My _turn."


	18. Day 18: Childhood

"Callum, could you _please _sit still?" A woman's voice rang out, her frustration with the boy evident. "The elven diplomatic party will be arriving shortly, and you need to be ready!"

Queen Sarai huffed as her ten-year-old son wriggled free from her grasp once more, blatantly refusing to put on the suit prepared for him or have his hair brushed and styled.

"I know you hate these things," Sarai said softly, managing to catch Callum by the shoulders as he attempted to run out the room, and ducking down to his eye level. "But the King and I really need this week to go as smoothly as possible," Sarai said softly, causing Callum to guiltily avoid eye contact. "There's a real chance that we can finally finish the negotiations of the peace treaty whilst they're here. We have to demonstrate our commitment to abolishing Dark Magic," Sarai added, bopping Callum on his nose with her finger, earning a small giggle from the boy. "And you are our key feature."

Callum's giggle slipped into a frown, escaping the momentary distraction his mother had provided, and remembering why he was so adamantly attempting to avoid these meetings.

He was going to have to perform his primal magic. In front of the most well known and respected elves in the world. The Dragon Guard.

Ever since humans had been banished from Xadia for creating Dark Magic, there had been tension between the two peoples. Small skirmishes had broken out at the Breach. Xadians had been angered by human attempts to smuggle into the magical lands and return with stolen goods to aid Dark Magic.

But then Prince Harrow had been coronated as King, and the world began to shift. He campaigned for peace with Xadia, making it a crime in _Katolis_ to be found attempting to illegally cross the border. At first, the people of Katolis had been angered by this, they felt put out that humans had been banished from Xadia by the elves, but now by their own King? The other kingdoms of the Pentarchy had been reluctant to agree. If they limited themselves by abolishing Dark Magic, they would be left majorly handicapped should Xadia ever decide to evade.

Then Callum came along, and the prospect of peace became a reality.

A human born with a connection to an arcanum, the first in living memory, even for the Archdragons. When Harrow and Sarai had discovered his abilities, they attempted to keep it secret, for fear of his safety coming under threat. But as Callum got older, and his abilities became both stronger and harder to keep quiet, Harrow took decisive action, sensing a grand opportunity.

Harrow wrote to the _Regina Draconis _and informed her of his sons' abilities, and when he received a reply, he was informed that she would be sending the Dragon Guard to Katolis to formalise an official peace treaty, one that Harrow had been campaigning for since day one of his reign. But this treaty was almost entirely dependant on humans banishing Dark Magic.

And now that day was here, and Callum felt physically sick with nerves. As a prince, there was a large amount of pressure and expectation on him every single day of his life, which he struggled to cope with.

Then he had the title of the only human mage in the world to deal with too.

Callum sighed, the look in his mother's eyes made him feel extremely guilty for putting off getting ready. "Sorry, mom." He began putting on the suit tailored for him, a Callum-sized version of the royal outfit that Harrow normally wore.

Sarai smiled softly and ruffled his hair. "It's okay, Cal," she started. "I know this is going to be tough for you, honey, but your father and I will be there with you the entire time."

Callum frowned. "What about Ez?" He asked sadly, as his mother set to work getting his hair cooperating.

"He'll be watching, honey," Sarai began, her tone already informing Callum that his brother wouldn't be with them. "But he'll be inside the castle with Claudia and Soren."

An automatic wince slipped across Callum's features. Claudia was a sore subject for the boy, as he had had a remarkable crush on her for the longest time, but they had fallen out somewhat since Callum discovered his primal abilities. Claudia was jealous, Callum despised Dark Magic, and they clashed about it far too often.

So, not only was Callum under a lot of pressure, he was also horrifically lonely. His brother was his only real friend. Not that Callum minded too much, he loved his brother dearly, and had such a good, fun time entertaining Ezran with magic, that the loneliness didn't get too him too much.

"Come on then, my magical prince," Sarai announced, standing up and patting Callum proudly on the shoulder. "Time to go wow some very important elves!"

Her enthusiasm and positivity rubbed off on Callum, and a confident smile crossed his face. It stayed on his face for a whole five seconds, as a thunderous roar split the silence, one that certainly lived up to the reputation of the source.

Sarai's eyes widened.

"They're here," she murmured, glancing out the window of the room they were in and spotting a couple of black dots off in the horizon, but rapidly growing bigger.

"Was that…?" Callum asked quietly, suddenly extremely nervous again. Sarai nodded, before grabbing his hand and walking him out the room.

"Yes," she answered. "Thunder, the King of the Dragons."

When the duo arrived in the courtyard of the castle, the spots in the distance were highly visible now, all the guards were staring, pointing. In the middle of the courtyard, standing tall, proud and confident, was King Harrow.

He turned and smiled brightly as Callum and Sarai arrived at his side. Callum offered Harrow a smile that was so obviously fake, the King's face fell in an instant.

"Callum," Harrow started gently, bending down to the aforementioned prince's eye level, and offering him a reassuring smile. "There's no pressure on you today, if you feel like this is too much right now, we can postpone your performance, and in any case, your mother, brother and I all think you're amazing regardless."

Callum's heart warmed at his father's praise, and a surge of confidence ran through his veins. "I can do it."

His voice was firm and strong, causing Harrow to beam, and pat Callum's head. "That's my boy."

Callum's face erupted into a beaming smile. The Dragons were almost upon them now, and it became clear that both the beasts had multiple riders on their backs, it looked like four in total, from Callum's position, two on each of the Dragons, one of the riders appeared considerably smaller than the other three.

As they descended, Callum was able to discern that they were all Moonshadow elves, from his studies on magic, elves, and well, all things Xadia, he could easily distinguish them by their markings, hair colour and outfits.

Thunder let out another booming roar as the pair of dragons touched down in the courtyard, and Callum rapidly realised he was the only human present still stood. Everyone else present was bowing in respect.

Callum rushed down onto his knees, mimicking his father's respectful bow. A booming voice erupted around the courtyard.

"_**Thank you, Your Majesty, but please, rise."**_

Callum's head physically pounded at the sound of the Xadian Kings voice.

"It is an honour to welcome you, _Draco Rex _and _Regina Draconis_, and your esteemed Dragon Guard to Katolis," Harrow announced regally, rising to his feet and gesturing for the rest of the humans in the courtyard to follow suit.

Callum's mouth almost dropped in awe at the sight of the Dragons standing proud and tall in the middle of his home. The Dragon King was monumentally tall, towering over many of the buildings that surrounded them, his scales were a wonderful shade of light blue, and his yellow eyes scanned the humans currently stood around him. He had six varying sized straight horns on his head, growing from smallest on the inside to largest on the out, and each horn had several horseshoe-shaped markings on them. Thunder also sported a long white beard-esque mane.

His partner, the Dragon Queen, was particularly similar in appearance, except her mane flared up instead of hanging below her mouth, and she only had four horns, but they were partially curved and had spiral markings running all the way up them. She was marginally smaller than her King, but not by much.

Callum took all of this in, locking it into his memory to sketch later, whilst Harrow continued his speech. He was so absorbed in inspecting the Dragons' appearances, that he almost missed his introduction.

"I would like to introduce my wife, Queen Sarai, and my son, Prince Callum," Harrow announced, gesturing to his left to Sarai, then his right to Callum.

"It is an absolute privilege, Your Excellencies," Sarai greeted regally, bowing respectfully to the Xadian royalties in front of them.

Harrow subtly nudged Callum when he didn't react, and the young mage respectfully stepped forward and bowed in a similar manner to how his mother had moments earlier.

"_**Well met," **_Thunder boomed, before lowering his head to meet Callum's eyes. Even from a distance, the sight sent waves of fear and nerves through the prince. _**"So you are the young mage?" **_Callum nodded, steeling himself and ensuring he maintained eye contact with the Dragon King. _**"Please, stand, Prince Callum."**_

Callum obliged and noticed that as he was bowing, the Dragon Guard his dismounted from the King and Queen, and he had been right about his earlier assessment of one of the riders being particularly smaller. She looked around his age, and his eyes seemed to be drawn to her as he stood.

She was wearing the same diplomatic armour as the other elves, but whereas the other three elves had long white hair, braided in various ways and locations on their heads, the young girl had much shorter hair, barely falling to her shoulders, with a small braid on the right side of her face. She had purple markings that resembled an upside-down horn coming down from her eyes, which matched the colouring. She stood tall and impressively, and Callum didn't think he'd ever seen anyone his age look so pretty but powerful at the same time.

He managed to pull his eyes away from her and back to the Dragon King, just as the young Moonshadow girl looked in his direction.

"_**If we are to believe King Harrow's message, which I assure you we do, you have somehow connected to an arcanum?" **_Regina Draconis spoke up, her voice sounded not too dissimilar to the King's gravelly, _thunderous _tone, but it was distinctly softer and didn't leave such a pounding in Callum's head.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Callum replied weakly, his voice cracking with nerves. Callum was settled somewhat by Sarai moving behind Harrow and placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I have a connection to the Sky arcanum."

If Dragons could raise their eyebrows in surprise, the two in front of Callum certainly did.

It was then that the Dragon Guard stepped forward, in formation in between the two towering Dragons, there were two males and a female, to go with the younger girl. They stood in alternating genders, from left to right from Callum's perspective of male, female, male, then the young girl. It was the middle male who spoke first.

He was tall, lean and looked relatively young, perhaps fifteen to twenty years older than Callum, his hair ran all the way down to his lower back, braided, and he fixed Callum with an inquisitive stare from his intelligent looking turquoise eyes. He had two purple marks running parallel to each other across the bridge of his nose.

"Your Highnesses, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves," he began, stepping forward towards them and bowing respectfully on one knee. "I am Runaan, to my right, you have my brother and sister-in-law, Quacey and Thalassa, the highest ranking members of the Dragon Guard, and on my left, is my niece, their daughter, and the most prodigious member we have ever seen, Rayla."

As they were introduced, each member of Runaan's family bowed respectfully to the Katolis royalty.

_Rayla_, Callum acknowledged, his eyes returning to the youngest member of the Dragon Guard. The name was interesting, unique, and Callum became even more captivated by the girl. He was snapped out of his focus on her, when her head lifted and violet eyes met green. It felt like a shock ran through his system, the same sort of power he felt just before he cast a spell.

His lips quivered into a smile before he couldn't even stop himself, and to his delight, Rayla seemed to offer him one back.

"It is wonderful to meet you all, please rise, and we will begin the demonstration," Harrow announced, and the elves conformed to his request, all of their eyes falling onto Callum, including the two Dragons, intrigue evident in all of their expressions. Harrow then turned to Callum, and lent him a comforting smile and a pat on the shoulder. "You've got this, son," he added, quietly.

Callum stepped forward, and turned ninety degrees to his right, away from both delegations, and took a deep breath in, closing his eyes. The crowd watched with fascination as he slowly lifted his arm, and agonizingly for everyone watching, gently stretched his finger out. Callum's fingertip started to glow, and he had to fight particularly hard to keep his focus as the elven diplomats gasped, and a low rumble of shock emanated from the Dragons. He calculated his movements with precision, and drew a reverse F, with a little flick on the end, and mumbled.

"_Aspiro."_

A whirlwind of energy tunneled out from Callum's mouth and whipped around the courtyard, stunning the entire crowd.

Even his parents, who watched him with incredulous expressions. That was the most powerful spell he'd ever cast.

There was a ripple of applause from the human guards, which swiftly extended into the elven diplomatic party. Callum was utterly gobsmacked at the reception he received, and for some reason his eyes drifted automatically to Rayla. A surge of confidence and joy waved through his body as he recognised the look on her face.

Awe and admiration.

It wasn't something he was used to seeing, and it made his heart pitter patter, and butterflies darted around his stomach. A small smile slipped onto Rayla's face, and she averted her gaze, a slight colour in her cheeks.

"_**Remarkable," **_Thunder mumbled, which still sent vibrations through Callum's skull. _**"Runaan, you will represent us in beginning these peace negotiations. It seems we have misjudged humans, Prince Callum…" **_Callum's eyes locked onto the Dragon Kings'. _**"You are a service to your people, learn well, and maintain your path." **_

Callum nodded in response, and turned to look at his parents, who were looking at him with pure adoration in their eyes.

Runaan saluted Thunder, and offered an agreement to the Dragon King's request.

"_**We look forward to hearing about your progress, but we must return to Xadia," **_Thunder added, before winding up his wings to take flight, his Queen following his actions. _**"Best of luck, and here's to peace."**_

Everyone present bowed as the Xadian royalty took to the skies, and swiftly drifted off into black dots in the distance.

"Come," Harrow started, grabbing the Dragon Guard entourages' attention. "We have much to discuss." He guided the elves towards the throne room, where the negotiations would take place, before he turned back to Callum, and bent down to his level again, placing his hand on Callum's shoulder and beaming brightly. "Congratulations, son, you may well have been the catalyst for great change in the world, I couldn't be more proud of you."

Callum's face exploded into a beaming smile. "Thanks, dad," he said softly, gentle heat rising to his cheeks.

"Take the rest of the day off, enjoy yourself, we'll see you tonight for dinner."

Callum nodded, the smile never wavering from his face. It even grew as his mother came over and gave him a big hug, and more proud words. As the elven congregation passed him, each and everyone of them gave him a look of grudging respect, and small nods.

As Rayla walked past, their eyes connected once more, and the curious look she was giving him sent a shiver down his spine. He offered her a smile, which she seemed to automatically return. Their eyes seemed to stay locked on each other all the while the group headed towards the castle, and Callum heaved a sigh of relief and exhilaration as they disappeared inside.

Callum swiftly decided to return to his room to collect his sketchbook at head to the garden to sketch the Dragons, the Dragon Guard, and more specifically, Rayla.


	19. Day 19: Secrets

Callum's brain felt absolutely frazzled.

His performance couldn't have gone better, an incredible display of power and control, proving to the elven diplomats and the _Xadian royalty _that humans were, potentially, capable of much more than the grim art Dark Magic.

His head was in so much of a daze that he didn't even acknowledge that he'd returned to his room and grabbed his sketchbook on autopilot, until he was stood next to his favourite tree. Callum loved this spot, it gave him the best view of the magnificent, colourful garden in front of him, the field almost looked like a rainbow was being projected onto the ground for miles around him. Rows and rows of different coloured flowers looking absolutely gorgeous in the midday sun.

Callum was just about to plonk himself down at the foot of the tree when a flash of blue in his peripheral caught his attention. He could've sworn he'd seen movement, but when he turned to look, Callum couldn't see anything untoward.

"Zym, where are ya?" A Scottish voice rang out around the field, causing Callum to freeze in place.

_Zym? _He thought, eyes wide as saucers, _surely not?_

The name rang many bells in Callum's mind, but he couldn't place why, and all thoughts of trying to recall why went out of his mind when he saw the source of the voice.

It was _her_. The main reason Callum's brain felt so dazed, the main reason he'd elected to head to the garden to sketch.

Rayla.

A sense of weirdness fell over Callum. He'd never even had a conversation with this girl, yet somehow, she'd managed to overwhelm his thoughts with minor eye contact and small, tentative smiles. She'd driven Callum's itch to sketch, something that another person rarely did. His eyes lingered on her for so long, by the time he noticed the blue blur racing towards him, it was too late.

"_Oof-!_"

Callum landed on his butt, and slammed his back against the tree with a thud, sketchbook dropping to the floor by his side. Somehow, he had managed to fling his arms around whatever it was that had launched him to the floor.

Callum gazed down and his jaw dropped. Standing happily on his torso, tongue lolling out the side of its mouth, yapping happily, was a baby Storm Dragon. Callum's brain connected the dots, not just _any _Storm Dragon.

The King and Queen had left the Dragon Prince behind.

"There ya are ya rascal! What're ya… oh," her voice sounded relieved at first, but as soon as Rayla came into Callum's limited line of sight, her voice switched to nervy, as if she were about to get into trouble.

Callum's eyes shifted from the Dragon bouncing on his lap, to the Moonshadow elf towering over him. Her eyes seemed to widen in recognition as she studied Callum's face.

"Oh! You're the ma- I mean prince!" Rayla blurted out awkwardly, hurriedly kneeling as a show of respect, causing Callum's face to flush red. He shifted his body upright, so he was sat with his back up against the tree, causing the baby Dragon to slide into his lap.

The Dragon was still looking up at Callum with a mixture of joy and something that seemed like… _recognition_.

"I-Its Callum, please," Callum said to the bowing elf. "P-please, you don't need to b-bow," he stammered, face still flushed red. Rayla looked slightly relieved at this, and flopped down into a seated position

Her violet eyes met Callum's emerald, and a small smile automatically slipped onto his face.

"Rayla, right?" Callum asked subtly, knowing full well it was, having had his mind full of thoughts about the girl in front of him, ever since they'd been introduced not hours earlier.

"That's right," Rayla nodded, extending her arm out towards Callum. The Prince was about to take her hand and shake it, before he recalled from his studies that Moonshadow elves officially greet each other by holding each other's forearms and shaking.

A look of pleasant shock crossed Rayla's features as Callum greeted her like a Moonshadow elf.

"And who's this little guy?" Callum added, looking down at the Dragon on his lap, and giving the small creature a gentle pat on its head, earning a delighted coo and wag of its tail.

"Not supposed to be out causing trouble!" Rayla deadpanned, glaring at the back of the dragons head, making Callum snort out a laugh. Rayla looked surprised at Callum's laughter, but a gentle smile crept onto her face. "This is Azymondias, or Zym, the Dragon Prince."

A spark ran through Callum's body, causing his body to stiffen upright. _That_ name absolutely rang a bell. Callum hurriedly stretched out to reach his fallen sketchbook, and as if fate was guiding him, it had hit the ground and opened on the exact page he wanted.

His eyes widened in pure shock, as he lifted the sketch up to his face, examining it closely, before lowering the book to look at the Dragon on his lap.

The drawing was a perfect replica of Azymondias.

"What's wrong?" Rayla's genuinely concerned voice grabbed his attention.

"I… I…" Callum couldn't formulate words. He'd never met this Dragon, yet he _knew _him. "I know you," he whispered to Azymondias, who seemed to understand him, and yapped in response.

Callum missed Rayla's frown, as he couldn't take his eyes off Zym's face.

"That can't be right," Rayla scoffed. "His hatching hadn't been announced yet, that's actually why he's here!" Rayla's eyes widened and she slapped a hand over her mouth. "And no one was supposed to know that…" she mumbled dejectedly, shifting her gaze to the ground.

Callum managed to pull his attention away from Zym to Rayla, a sympathetic feeling filling his gut at her sadness.

"Don't worry," he reassured, finding the courage from gods knows where to place his hand on Rayla's knee. "I won't tell anyone." He smiled brightly at her. Rayla initially started at his contact, but then seemed genuinely comforted by it.

"Thank you," she said softly, fixing Callum with a grateful smile. "So," Rayla continued, her demeanour switching from concerned and dejected to playful so quickly it made Callum's head spin. "What makes you think you're the only being outside of the Dragon Guard who knows about Zyms existence?" She teased, petting the baby Dragon as she spoke.

A smirk slipped onto Callum's face. "Well, he's sat in my lap."

Rayla blinked at him a couple of times, before their eyes collided. After a second of silence, both kids burst into laughter, Zym's head flicking back and forth between looking at Callum and Rayla, a happy grin on his face.

Once their laughter had died down, their eyes met again, and soft smiles fell onto both of their faces.

"Oh… you dummy," Rayla breathed out, in between her recovery from her laughter.

Her words caused an odd sensation washed over Callum, a feeling of comforting deja vu. Due to his anxiety, Callum didn't feel particularly comfortable around people, his family being the only exception.

Yet Rayla had waltzed into his life and seemed to fit perfectly.

It was almost as if they'd done this before, like she'd called him that exact name, in that exact fond tone. In another life, he, Rayla and Zym had known each other. Like they'd laughed together, learned together, loved together.

It was a ludicrous thought. But it caused Callum to have to blink a few times to clear some of the vivid imagery that danced through his mind. He managed to focus back onto Rayla, escaping the peculiar feeling and mental pictures that came with it, and acknowledged that she was observing him with a quizzical expression.

Almost like she felt it too.

But then Callum realised he'd never actually answered her question, so he hit her with one of his one.

"As I'm keeping your secret, can you keep mine?" He asked softly, eyes briefly flicking down to his sketchbook, before finding Rayla's vibrant violet orb once more.

Rayla's eyebrows quirked at his request, but she nodded, and a playful smirk slipped onto her lips. "Only seems fair, ya Highness," she quipped cheekily.

Callum flushed, and coughed to try and clear some embarrassment, earning a light giggle from Rayla. He then twisted his sketchbook around and gestured for the Moonshadow elf to look at the sketch.

It was only when Rayla had the sketchbook in her hands that Callum realised what he'd done.

Aside from his family, and art instructor, Callum never even showed anyone his sketches, let alone hand over his whole sketchbook!

What on earth was this girl doing to him?

Rayla's eyes widened as she took in the sketch in front of her, and they then proceeded to flick between the drawing, and Zym. Callum waited with nerves frayed. He'd never been so nervous for somebody to give their verdict on his drawings. But he couldn't help but smile slightly at the way Rayla had perfectly mimicked his earlier reaction when he had come to realise that the drawing was identical.

"H-How?" Rayla breathed out in disbelief, her eyes coming to meet Callum's, gently handing him back his sketchbook. Callum frowned slightly, he'd never told anyone about this.

But for whatever reason, Rayla had breezed into his world and swept up both his trust and affection.

"I… grew up having really vivid dreams," Callum started, closing the sketchbook and leaning back against the tree trunk, his eyes drifting up into the sky as he recollected the memories. "I have a photographic memory, so I can remember certain things _almost _perfectly." He sighed, and subconsciously placed a hand on Zym's mane, the dragon having curled up into a ball on his lap, and gently rubbing his thumb back and forth. "I've had multiple dreams about a young Dragon, one who could… speak… to me," Callum spoke softly, distantly as he brought the memories to the front of his brain, eyes gleaming over as if he'd been transported to another time and place. He was so absorbed in his past, he completely missed Rayla's fascinated expression, his story pulling one hundred percent of her attention. She had also scooted slightly closer to Callum, and placed one of her hands onto Zym's back.

The Dragon Prince was watching Callum with equal fascination from his curled up position on the young mages' lap.

"The Dragon in my dreams told me his name, Azymondias, but told me to call him Zym, and he guided me through the first stages of magic," Callum explained, his eyes fell to look directly into Zym's. "It _was _you, wasn't it?"

Zym yipped, and sat up to give Callum a sparky lick on his cheek. Tears formed in Callum's eyes.

"I don't believe it…" he mumbled dopily, a blank expression crossing his face as a lone tear leaked down his cheek.

Rayla was absolutely astounded. Not only was the _human_ boy in front of her connected to an arcanum, but he was also apparently connected to the Dragon Prince too. She couldn't help herself from reaching up and wiping the tear off Callum's cheek, who in turn, couldn't help his subconscious lean into her touch.

"Promise me," he sniffles, looking Rayla directly in the eyes. "That this will stay between us?" Callum's tone became marginally hopeful, but at the same time sounded pessimistic, like he expected Rayla to dart off and instantly tell someone.

Rayla smiled encouragingly at the human prince, and her hand drifted down to rest on top of his.

"I promise," Rayla affirmed in a definitive tone, winning a warm smile from Callum. "It'll be our secret."


	20. Day 20: Hurt

Callum and Rayla sat in that position, hand in hand, lost in each others company until the sun started to set on the horizon. They talked about everything and anything. Callum knew more about Rayla from those few hours than he'd learned about Claudia and Soren, having known them his entire life. And when she had introduced him to "human Rayla", Callum almost exploded with laughter.

Her favourite colour was green, like his eyes, she'd said, earning a shy smile from the flustered boy. Her parents had always wanted her to follow in her footsteps, something that made her feel similar pressure to that which Callum felt being a prince. He learnt she was afraid of water, something which made Callum want to help her.

So he felt oddly confident when he asked her a potentially awkward question.

"Rayla… can we be friends?"

Callum was, however, instantly filled with nerves and worry when Rayla's eyes widened in surprise, and her body seemed to tense. Those feelings only grew when Rayla's violet eyes began to sparkle with tears.

"O-Of course, dummy!" Rayla exclaimed after a moment, releasing Callum's nerves, but not his worry. He gave their still conjoined hands a tentative squeeze.

"What's wrong?" Callum asked, his concern dripping from his voice. A tearful smile crossed Rayla's face, and a shy disposition fell over her.

"I… umm…. I've never had a friend before," she admitted in a murmur, her eyes falling from Callum's to rest on Zym. "Training to be a member of the Dragon Guard, is time-consuming… And lonely."

Callum was filled with empathy and sympathy. "I can relate to that," Callum replied softly, squeezing her hand once more, causing her to meet his gaze once more. "Being a prince, I have a lot of lessons, and when I'm not in them I spend most of my time with Ez, which isn't a bad thing, I love my brother to bits, but the only other friends I've ever had, I've fallen out with." Rayla shot him a quizzical look. "We disagreed on Dark Magic."

Rayla frowned instantly, already knowing Callum's stance on Dark Magic helped to comfort her, but it was still infuriating to know humans supported it.

"So, friends?" Callum quipped cheekily, smirking at Rayla as he lightly patted her hand, Rayla smiled softly at him and caught his hand again to give it a thankful squeeze.

"Definitely."

The rest of the week swept by in an absolute whirlwind of political activities, with Zym finally being announced and presented, and days on days of brutal negotiations for the King and Queen and the Dragon Guard.

But on the fourth day of the visit, an announcement was made to the people of Katolis, from King Harrow himself.

They had reached an agreement, peace had fallen over the region. Elves and humans were free to come and pass through Katolis and Xadia as they pleased. However, there was still work to do. Harrow would now need to take this to the rest of the Pentarchy and try to negotiate similar agreements with them, but for all intents and purposes, Katolis was now open to all. This would be celebrated annually with a week-long festival, in honour of the week the Dragon Guard had spent in Katolis in order to negotiate this peace treaty.

But for Callum, it had been one of the best weeks of his life. In between his lessons and sitting in on the negotiation meetings, he and Rayla had become almost inseparable, and Callum was loving every single moment of it.

There was just something about Rayla that brought out the best in him. He was more focussed and driven in his lessons, and the political meetings seemed far more interesting to him with her there. They'd make eye contact over the table and pull subtle, funny faces at each other, earning quiet giggles off the recipient.

It hadn't gone unnoticed, however. It was apparent to Sarai and Runaan how smitten the two kids were with each other.

So when the last day of the elven diplomats' visit came around, Callum felt dread set in his blood like lead. He was going to have to say goodbye to Rayla today.

It worried Callum how much Rayla's imminent departure would hurt him. She had arrived in his life like a raging storm, displacing everything Callum thought he knew, yet was about to leave having made him as calm and optimistic about his future as he had ever been.

Callum had never felt such bone-numbing fear. It was so overwhelming that he was concerned he might have a physical reaction and miss the elves', and therefore Rayla's, departure.

He'd spent the last couple of days preparing a farewell gift for her, in secrecy. It was a slightly risky endeavour for Callum. Although he had learned a lot about Moonshadow culture from Rayla, there was still a lot he had to learn. So for Callum, making a bracelet could be a potential minefield.

He had distinct trouble sleeping the night before the elven party were due to leave. Plagued with nightmares of Rayla departing to become a fully-fledged member of the Dragon Guard and completely forgetting who he was in the process.

Due to this, Callum spent the night tossing and turning in bed.

Eventually electing to give up on sleep, Callum slipped out of the bedroom he shared with Ezran, and headed towards the garden to continue with his secret gift.

Wandering the castle hallways, and knowing them as he did, Callum avoided contact with any other people on the way to his destination.

It used to be _his _spot, the garden, whenever he felt nervous, or anxious, or overwhelmed, he'd been in the glow of the colourful flowers and sketch, to calm him. But ever since that first encounter with Rayla, it had become _their _spot.

And Callum loved it. He used to crave the solitude in the past, but Rayla's company was just so comforting and reassuring.

When he arrived at the tree, he was startled to find someone sitting on one of the low hanging branches, the dull light of the barely rising sun causing the person's identity to be obscured from Callum until he had reached the tree.

It was one of the Moonshadow elves. Runaan, if Callum recalled correctly.

"Aaah, Prince Callum, just who I was waiting for," the Dragon Guard member said softly, his gaze falling onto Callum's face as the young Prince arrived under the branch Runaan rested on.

"Good morning, sir," Callum greeted respectfully, offering Runaan a bow. The man's usually hard features softened slightly at Callum's deference, and he hopped down from his resting place to stand in front of the mage. "What can I do for you?" Callum queried, a nervous edge to his voice.

There was something about the way Runaan carried himself, something about the aura he radiated that demanded respect, but then there were his eyes, which when he interacted with Rayla, became soft. It was something that had instantly earnt the elf Callum's respect and admiration, he was a perfect leader and role model.

It reminded Callum of his own father.

"Well, I have a thank you, and a request, Your Highness," Runaan answered, his posture shifting slightly to a stance that Callum was familiar with from the negotiation meetings.

"O-Of course," Callum replied, nerves rising again, but gesturing for Runaan to continue. "And please, sir, just call me Callum."

Runaan's eyebrow subtly quirked at Callum's request, and a little smile cracked onto his lips.

"Very well, Callum," Runaan replied, the smile stretching to a smirk. "As long as you call me Runaan, as opposed to sir."

Callum grinned sheepishly, but nodded, nonetheless.

Runaan's demeanour shifted once more, this time becoming more serious. "Firstly, I wanted to let you know how impressed the Dragon King and Queen, and the Dragon Guard are with you." Callum blinked in surprise, before the words settled in and a blush rose to his face. "You have shown remarkable compassion and understanding for the ways of Xadia, which has left its mark on the royals."

"Th-thank you, sir- I mean, Runaan," Callum thanked gratefully, bowing slightly to hide his blush. Runaan smirked slightly again before continuing.

"And on Rayla," Runaan added, his lips quivering with humour as Callum's body shot upright, his face now beet red. But Runaan's expression turned slightly forlorn as he resumed his train of thought. "She has always been under immense pressure, none of which is her fault." He turned his gaze towards the rising sun, which had just breached the horizon. "She was born into a family of highly respected elves with her mother, father and myself all being members of the Dragon Guard. I'm sure you can empathise, being a Prince."

Callum nodded, recalling the conversation he had had with Rayla on their first day together.

"But she's always been her own biggest critic, wanting to exceed all expectations, and it's stunted her childhood," Runaan frowned and his gaze fell to the ground. "I blame myself for that."

Callum gulped slightly, not wanting to interrupt Runaan's monologue before he was done, but also wanting to comfort the older elf.

"It was out of my hands that she was brought for these negotiations," Runaan admitted, looking back into Callum's eyes. "It was decreed by the King and Queen themselves, they wanted to expose her to diplomatic duties as early as possible. I now have a sneaking suspicion it was because of you."

Callum's eyes widened comedically. "M-me?"

Runaan smirked again. "Yes, when your father's letter came through about you being a mage, i believe the Dragons realised that it would be a great opportunity for Rayla to get to know, and learn from, someone her age, with similar responsibilities, who would understand her, and what she's going through."

Runaan paused, before offering Callum the widest smile he'd seen from the elf so far.

"They were right," he declared. "I've never seen her so relaxed, so happy, so at ease, and her parents, and I, have you to thank for that."

Callum didn't think his face could heat up any more.

"And you've made quite the impression on the Dragon Prince, too."

There was an edge to Runaan's voice that chilled Callum's blood, almost as if he knew about Callum's dreams as a child. If he did, he didn't comment outright about it.

"It fills me with such optimism for the future," Runaan confessed. "Your father has been a magnificent advocate for peace between our people, to reunify Xadia." Runaan fixed Callum with a contemplative gaze. "I feel with you, and young Azymondias on the respective thrones in the future, your father's wishes may just come through."

Runaan crouched slightly to match Callum's eye level, and placed a firm, but comforting hand on the prince's shoulder.

"Keep on your path, Callum, and you will do incredible things," his voice was so steady, powerful and confident that Callum believed him immediately. "Which brings me to my request."

Callum's eyebrow raised subtly and subconsciously.

"Here," Runaan reached inside his vest and pulled out a rectangular slab of glass, which had a purple rim around it, seemingly some kind of magical alloy. "I want you to take this."

Callum tentatively took the slab from Runaan, and turned it over in his hands, examining it.

"What is it, sir?" Callum asked, his focus on the device making him resort to the respectful title.

"That is a message mirror," Runaan said. "It will react to your arcanum and allow you to draw on the glass, or write a message, which will display on its counterpart device."

Callum's head flew up to look at Runaan so fast he almost gave himself whiplash.

"C-Counterpart?" Callum stuttered, desperately fighting his rising hope. Runaan's smirk had returned in full.

"Rayla's," Runaan admitted softly. "My request is that the two of you stay in contact whilst you are apart. You are good for her, Prince Callum, I am certain it would benefit her development to stay in contact with a friend."

Callum gawped at Runaan, then down at the mirror in his hand, which had suddenly become his most prized possession. Tears started to prickle at Callum's eyes.

"Thank you so much," he croaked out, determined not to crack emotionally in front of the respected elf.

"No, thank you," Runaan returned. "I will ensure that Rayla is involved in any future diplomatic visits to Katolis, including the annual peace festivals. It is heartwarming to see her open up like she has this week, and I desperately hope you will stay in touch with her."

Callum nodded enthusiastically, almost bursting with joy inside. Obviously, he and Rayla could have exchanged letters, but being able to almost instantly communicate with each other was beyond his wildest dreams!

It was then he remembered the gift he had been planning to present to her, and his concern about potential cultural differences.

"Um, Runaan, could I ask you a question?" Callum asked nervously, shuffling his feet slightly and avoiding eye contact. Runaan raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, Callum."

Callum pursed his lips slightly, before anxiously clearing his throat. "Do, um, bracelets have any significance in Moonshadow culture?" He asked quietly, building up his courage to look Runaan in the face.

Runaan's features softened at Callum's question, instantly figuring out why he was asking.

"It depends on the age of who is presenting it and the material of the bracelet," Runaan answered, and seeing Callum's crestfallen expression, quickly explained. "If the persons involved are over 16 years old, which is the bonding, or marriage age for Moonshadow elves, and the bracelet has a Moonflower braided into it, it would be considered the equivalent of a human proposal."

Callum blew out a small sigh of relief.

"So your gift will be culturally appropriate," Runaan added in a mildly teasing tone, earning another blush from Callum.

"Thank you," Callum said gratefully. "For everything," he added, gesturing to the message mirror.

"You are most welcome," Runaan replied. "I hope you will consider all the things I have said to you this morning, and I look forward to seeing you later for the farewell ceremony."

Callum nodded, before bidding Runaan farewell as the older elf made his way back to the castle. Callum smiled brightly down at the message mirror, before tucking it into the satchel that held his sketchbook, and sat down to continue the work on the bracelet.

Although his face held a smile, there was still a bubble of dread sitting in his stomach, he may now have a way to communicate with Rayla when she left, he was going to be going a very long time without seeing her. The smile slipped into a frown before he could even acknowledge it.

Today was going to hurt, and Callum wasn't prepared for it.

The bubble in Callum's stomach grew larger and larger as early morning drifted into mid morning, and the sun floated higher in the sky. His fingers worked on autopilot as he attempted to control the building emotions.

Those emotions almost overwhelmed him the moment he completed the gift for Rayla, but as had been the case that entire week, as soon as he needed a comforting source, she appeared.

Fortunately, he managed to acknowledge she was coming before the emotions took control of his mind, and slipped the bracelet into his pocket, and flipping open his sketchbook, to make it look like he had been drawing.

"Good morning, Prince Callum!" Rayla exclaimed jokingly as she approached, a beaming smile on her lips.

But Callum knew her well enough to see through it. There was an edge to her voice that instantly resonated with the bubble in Callum's stomach, and a cursory glance into her eyes informed the young prince that Rayla was feeling the exact same things he was.

It warmed him slightly, in a similar way Runaan's words about his impact on Rayla's life did, but it didn't help disperse that horrific tension he felt.

"Hey, Ray," Callum replied with a small smile in her direction as she sat down on his right.

Unlike Rayla's subtle cover-up, Callum's emotions were evident in his tone, causing Rayla's fake, beaming smile to shift into a sad one. She silently reached out her left hand and slipped it into Callum's right one.

"Hey," she began softly, giving his hand a light squeeze as she spoke. "It'll be okay."

Rayla's softness caused a lump to form in Callum's throat, one he had to swallow down to avoid his emotions overflowing.

"I… I… just…" Callum stumbled over his thoughts, trying to find the adequate words to explain what Rayla had brought into his life in just seven days. But it just circled his mind back around to the fact that this, this very moment, would be their last alone together for who knows how long.

He coughed back a sob as the emotional pain became too much. Callum turned his entire body so he was facing Rayla.

"I can't thank you enough," he said, taking a deep breath to try and regain control of his emotions. "You've done so much for me in just a week… I can't find the right words to express it."

Rayla's eyes began to sparkle with unshed tears, Callum's words warming her, yet reminding her of their imminent separation at the same time.

"I don't want us to be apart."

Both of them blinked in surprise at the fact they'd spoken the same thing in unison. The emotion that had charged the air around them made the moment humorous to them, and they both started laughing.

"Ugh, we're a mess," Callum groaned once their laughter had died down. Rayla nodded, but didn't say anything.

"I know it's going to hurt, being apart, and we should probably prepare ourselves for it…" Rayla began after a moments silence, making sure she kept eye contact with Callum. "But… can we try and enjoy this? Forget about it until this afternoon?"

Callum smiled softly at the request, and nodded, earning a grateful smile from Rayla. Her eyes drifted to the sketchbook on his lap, and her brow furrowed in confusion.

"What's this?"

Callum glanced down at the page, not knowing which one he had opened it on in his rush.

Oh his luck was just awful.

He'd opened it onto the page that he had sketched his design for Rayla's present. Callum groaned at the sight of it; he wasn't ready to give it to her yet, he had wanted to have a little speech ready to tell her how much his friendship meant to her and his badly he wanted them to stay best friends for… well… forever.

But it looked like the universe had other ideas.

"It's… it's a gift, for you" Callum answered quietly, after a long silence, his eyes fixed onto the drawing in front of him. Callum could sense Rayla's confusion without even looking at her.

"It's a great sketch, and I appreciate it," Rayla began, her confusion leaking into her tone. "But I don't own anything like that."

Callum smirked a little. "Actually, you do," he quipped matter-of-factly, finally looking away from the sketch and into Rayla's eyes, which were blinking in surprise. "And the sketch isn't the gift."

Rayla's eyes widened in realisation, and began to get that familiar sparkle that they always did when she got emotional.

Callum took this opportunity to reached into his pocket and pull out the completed bracelet, which, if he said so himself, looked better in real-life than it did in his drawing.

It was made from green and purple material, each colour intertwining with the other to make an almost helix appearance of the colours, and the clasp was made into the shape of the symbol of their primal sources, sky and moon.

"Wh…what is it?" Rayla asked quietly, her hand coming up to her mouth in surprise as she delicately reached out to take the bracelet from Callum's open palm.

"It's a friendship bracelet," Callum answered softly, catching Rayla's eye. "I wanted to have some speech planned for when I gave it to you, to tell you how important you are to me, but I couldn't find the words to express it, so…"

Callum shifted his body again, so he was sat directly in front of Rayla, their knees touching, and he took the bracelet from her and unclipped it, before refastening it around her wrist.

"Simply said, Rayla…" Callum continued, placing his hand in hers as he spoke. "You're my best friend," he added emotionally, tears finally escaping his eyes. "It's gonna hurt so much that you're not here, but I hope that if you feel that pain at any point, if you ever feel like there's too much pressure on you, that you'll look at that and know we'll always be friends, and I'm always supporting you, in whatever you do, whether we're together or not."

Tears fell freely from both their eyes as they fully embraced the prospect of being apart, and the emotional burden that put on the two kids was too much.

But there were teary smiles on both their faces as Rayla gratefully threw her arms around Callum.

They both knew that their bond would survive the distance, and they would be best friends forever.

And that would be enough to help them overcome the pain.


	21. Day 21: Aged Up

"Come on, Callum, you can do this…" the aforementioned young man muttered to himself, as he paced back and forth, nervously tapping his thighs with his fingertips. He took a shaky breath, lifting one of his hands to run it through his hair, anxiously shooting a glance through the large front window of the coffee shop.

His eyes automatically found her, sat on her own near the back of the shop, fingers sliding up and down on her phone screen.

The last time he'd seen her had been at their graduation ball, what Callum considered the greatest night of his life. That was two years ago. After their graduation, Callum had been offered a scholarship at a magic-focussed university in Xadia, and so he had moved out of Katolis for the first time in his life. In the process, became the first human to study magic at that Xadian university. He had now completed those studies, and was considered a master Sky mage, and had moved back with his step-father and brother.

She had stayed in Katolis. Having finally graduated thanks to Callum's tutorage, she had been offered an apprenticeship deal with Katolis' finest female soccer team, an opportunity she couldn't turn down, the chance to turn professional having been her lifelong dream.

And so they'd parted ways. Of course, they stayed in touch, calling each other almost every night, FaceTiming every weekend, but actually seeing each other in person?

Two years. Two _long _years.

Callum suddenly realised he was getting weird looks from people sat just inside the coffee shop, and so, summoning all his courage, pushed open the door and entered.

The ambience of the shop, the pop music playing in the background, the hum of chattering customers, the whir of the coffee machines and the bakery unit, was almost entirely lost on Callum. It was all a distorted blur as he was so entranced by _her_.

He still couldn't take his eyes off of her. Something that almost made him laugh.

When they were fifteen, she'd tormented him day in day out at school, bullying him relentlessly. Nothing particularly harsh, but it definitely affected Callum and his confidence throughout his school life. But then Callum had been assigned to tutor her, to help her pass the mandatory magical classes and graduate.

He'd been successful, and in the process, she'd become his friend, his crush, his _best _friend, and his first, and only, love. So the sight of her in person sent his heart racing in a way he couldn't comprehend.

Not that she knew this. Not for certain anyway, he'd heavily hinted at it at their graduation ball, but never outright said it.

Now was the moment of truth. Not about his love, anyway, but rather to see if they still connected after all this time.

The first thing he'd done after he had unpacked his things back at his home, was to give her a call, asking her to meet for a catch-up.

"Are you free anytime soon to catch up in person?" Callum had asked, somehow managing to keep his voice steady as his nerves had jangled relentlessly. This was released when he heard the smile in her answer.

"Coffee shop, fifteen minutes."

So here he was, seventeen minutes later, a bundle of nerves as he walked across the store to the back table, where she sat, as gorgeous as the last time he'd seen her.

She'd let her hair grow out, but had highlighted the tips purple, which was pulled into a high ponytail, with a braid at the front of her head running back around the left-hand side of her face, before tucking into her ponytail. She had a black leather jacket on, over a black band t-shirt that Callum couldn't quite make out, in addition to her black ripped jeans and black converse.

All in all, she was as breathtaking as ever.

Callum was so encapsulated by her, that he didn't realise the cashier was speaking to him until they repeated themselves.

"Uh, sir? Can I help you?" Callum's attention finally snapped towards the cashier, who was watching him with a knowing smirk on her face, causing Callum to flush.

"S-Sorry!" Callum stammered out. "Can I get a soda and a Moonberry jelly tart, please?"

Callum handed over the money, and took his drink and snack from the cashier, and took another deep, nerve-settling breath, before heading over to the corner table in the back.

She must've heard him approaching, because she glanced up at him and her face lit up, and she rapidly placed her phone on the table and stood up.

"Rayla," Callum greeted, his voice cracking slightly with nerves as he placed his drink and snack on the table. Rayla's beaming smile only grew as his voice reached her ears.

"Hey, Cal," Rayla replied, stepping forward and throwing her arms around his neck. Callum couldn't help but breathe in her scent as he slipped his arms around her waist to return the hug.

She still smelt the same, and he was overwhelmed with nostalgia, of the many hugs they'd shared over the years they'd known each other.

"It's so good to see you," Callum said, his voice muffled as he buried his face into her shoulder to bring her even closer.

"I bet it is," Rayla quipped, her voice equally muffled as his, her comment causing Callum to snort out a laugh as he pulled out of the hug, but left his hands resting on her waist. Her hands fell onto his shoulders as she inspected his face. She blinked a couple of times. "You've grown a _beard_?" She questioned incredulously.

Callum flushed a little under her intense gaze, and even more so when she ran her fingers over the stubble growing across his cheeks and chin.

"J-Just being l-lazy," Callum stuttered out, grinning nervously as Rayla rolled her eyes.

"Way to make a girl feel special," Rayla retorted sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "First time we see each other in two years and you can't be bothered to shave!"

There was a playful edge to her tone, but Callum still felt the need to defend himself.

"Well actually, needy elf," Callum quipped sarcastically. "I had _just _finished unpacking when I called you! So how's that for special?" He added smugly, smirking at Rayla and wiggling his eyebrows, causing her to giggle slightly.

When her giggling had died down, she rolled her eyes at Callum. "Yeah, yeah, okay, I feel very special," Rayla replied, the first part sounding jokey as her eyes rolled, but then they connected with Callum's again, and her tone instantly slipped into a softer, more genuine one.

The affection in her voice, and the way she was looking up at Callum, made his heart race beyond belief.

"Are you sure the beard is the main physical feature you want to focus on?" Callum questioned teasingly, straightening his back fully and suddenly gaining a couple of inches in height on Rayla.

The Moonshadow elf blinked in surprise, before pulling back away from Callum slightly to fully inspect him.

"You… you… you're…" her voice was distant, and brimming with disbelief as her eyes ran up and down Callum's form.

"I believe the word you're looking for is taller," Callum interrupted, his smirk seemingly never-ending. Rayla's face was the picture of surprise as her startled eyes continued to trace his body.

"You smug bastard," Rayla muttered under her breath, playfully narrowing her eyes at him and cuffing him on the shoulder. Rayla's glaring eyes flicked back and forth between Callum's for a few moments, before her gaze softened remarkably, and she pulled him in for another hug. "Gods I've missed you so much."

Callum thought his face was going to overheat if he blushed any more, but couldn't resist pulling Rayla as close as he possibly could, earning a startled squeak out of the elf.

"I'm guessing you missed me too from how you're squeezing the life out of me!" Rayla mumbled softly, affectionately, into his ear. Her breath on his neck caused a shiver to roll down his spine.

"Absolutely," Callum responded, equally as quietly as Rayla had spoken to him. "I don't want to be away from you for that long ever again."

His admission caused Rayla to stiffen slightly, only marginally, as her brain considered the potential meanings behind his words.

"Me neither," she admitted, bringing her head back so that they were looking at each other, almost nose to nose, her hands sliding from their position to cup the back of his neck.

Feeling her breath drift across his lips was too much for Callum, and he dropped his forehead to rest against hers, delighting in the way her cheeks flushed and her eyes drifted half-closed.

He was even more delighted when she pulled his lips to hers.

If somebody had told Callum five years earlier he would be a master Sky mage and kissing _Rayla_, he'd have laughed in their face. But no one ever knows their path, where they're going to be taken.

Callum had never, in that moment, been more grateful for Viren's actions.

Bully, to tutor-student, to crush, to friend, to best friend, to first love, to his first girlfriend. Callum couldn't help but smile into her lips as he imagined where they might be in another five years.


	22. Day 22: Proposal

"... and with all due respect, Prince Callum, I still maintain my own daughter, Claudia, would be an excellent candidate for your hand."

Callum felt like smacking his head against the wall, or using _aspiro _and blast the damned High Mage out of the Throne Room.

It felt like they were having this conversation every other day since he turned eighteen less than a fortnight ago.

He resisted the urge to physically inflict damage on himself, or Viren, but couldn't fight back an eye roll.

"And with all due respect, Lord Viren," Callum started, doing incredibly well to keep his tone as level and respectful as possible. "I've told you numerous times, I am in no rush to be engaged, and no matter what you say to the contrary, I want to get married to somebody I love, and I'm sorry, that isn't Claudia."

He could see anger bubbling under the surface of Viren's false calm demeanour, the man's lips pursed, as he shifted from one foot to the other. Ever since the peace treaty with Xadia had been announced, eight years previous, Dark Magic had been made illegal, despite heavy protests from Viren. He had retained his position as the High Mage, but his power had been limited, and he was limited to what he had been able to learn using Primal Stones.

"Do you have anything else you wish to discuss with me?" Callum queried, standing to his full height as he uttered the subtle dismissal. Callum could practically hear Viren grinding his teeth in frustration.

"No, Your Highness," Viren practically hissed. Callum nodded at him.

Just as Viren turned to leave the room, the door swung open, and Callum's father walked in, causing the High Mage to jump slightly, before dropping to his knee in a mark of respect.

King Harrow strode into the room, he cast his gaze over Viren, on one knee, and the way his face was contorted in controlled rage, and then over Callum, who's expression oozed frustration, and swiftly put two and two together. His body immediately straightened, and he cleared his throat.

"Lord Viren, have you been pestering my son about marriage again?" Harrow asked, slowly pacing towards where Viren still knelt, his tone leaving no room for falsity or half-truths. Callum couldn't resist the minor smirk that crept onto his lips as Viren's body language shifted to that of a naughty schoolboy.

"I was merely reminding the young prince that he has a fine option, who he knows, in Claudia -"

"Enough, Viren."

Viren's mouth shut tight as if he'd been hexed, Harrow towering over him.

"I have told you time and time again, I will allow Callum to marry out of love. My father gave me the same courtesy," Harrow scolded, standing over Viren with his hands held behind his back. Harrow's face fell into a scowl as Viren did not offer any attempt at an apology. "May I remind you, you are on thin ice as it is with your incessant protests against the abolishment of Dark Magic?" Harrow asked, causing Viren's body to stiffen.

Callum watched the exchange with much interest. He knew Viren's position had been heavily reliant on Dark Magic in the past, his father often calling it a "creative solution", but Callum had no idea how much Viren had pushed it.

"You need not remind me, Your Majesty," Viren answered, his voice sounding mildly apologetic.

Harrow's eyes flicked to Callum's, and the King briefly offered Callum the same smirk that was on the Prince's face, before it slipped seamlessly back into the stern expression it had previously held.

"That is what I like to hear, Lord Viren, you are dismissed," Harrow responded. "I want to hear no more about this, is that understood?" Harrow added strongly, as Viren reached the door, leaving no room for argument.

"Of course, Your Majesty," Viren replied, swiftly departing from the room.

There was a momentary silence across the room after the door swung shut, both Harrow and Callum's gazes locked onto where the High Mage had exited.

Callum broke the silence, his voice soft, and full of earnest. "Thank you, dad." Harrow turned his attention to the Prince at the sound of his voice and offered his son a small smile.

"You are welcome, Callum."

Callum couldn't help but frown at the tone Harrow replied in. There was definitely a _but _missing from the end of that sentence, and there was a large hint of resignation too.

A ball of dread formed in Callum's stomach as Harrow turned to face him, the King's expression fuelling the nagging sensation that Callum was feeling. That he wasn't going to enjoy the conversation that he had been summoned to the throne room to have before he had been ambushed by Viren.

Harrow forced a smile onto his face, before crossing the room to be stood next to Callum, placing a firm, but comforting hand on his shoulder.

Callum grimaced at the false expression on Harrow's face. "What is it, dad?" Harrow's smile fell.

"I'm that obvious to you, aren't I?" Callum smirked briefly at his father's resigned admission before it fell into a serious expression.

Harrow guided Callum over to the steps in front of the throne, and sat him down, before joining him.

"This isn't easy for me to say, Cal," Harrow began, his tone and physical features grim. "I am being put under increasing pressure about your engagement status, from both the High Council and the rest of the Pentarchy."

Callum felt his heart sink into his stomach, he could tell by his father's tone that he didn't want to be having this conversation.

"What about what you said to Lord Viren?" Callum queried, his voice small, almost childlike. Harrow frowned further and brought his hand up to rub his forehead, then his eyes, tiredly.

"It isn't his job to find you a suitable partner, especially not his own daughter, it is _not _his place," Harrow answered quietly, before removing his hand and looking Callum in the eyes, sorrow evident in them. "But it is mine."

Callum felt his head spin and bile spring from his stomach, into his throat. He opened his mouth to protest, but Harrow swiftly silenced him by raising his hand.

"I was telling the truth when I said I want you to marry for love, and my biggest wish is that you do," Harrow implored genuinely, once again placing his hand on Callum's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "There's now a deadline for an engagement announcement," Harrow sounded incredibly apologetic, but also completely resigned, as if he'd argued to the bitter end against it.

Callum appreciated his father's attempts to prevent his arranged marriage, but it seemed they weren't enough.

"H-How long do I have?" Callum stuttered. His throat was remarkably dry, and voice barely above a whisper.

Harrow winced at his son's defeatist tone. "I managed to negotiate a year…"

Harrow continued talking, but Callum didn't hear a word. The room span. His chest tightened, his lungs seemed to burn. He had to blink back tears and took a deep breath. Callum's eyes flickered as he tried to clear his vision, and turned his attention back to his father, who watched him with concerned eyes.

"S-Sorry," Callum stuttered out an apology, licking his lips to attempt to remove some of the dryness in his mouth. "W-What did you say?"

"We'll figure this out, Cal, I promise," Harrow supplied gently, squeezing his son's shoulder once more and offered the young man a comforting smile.

The edge of Callum's lip quivered up, as he attempted to offer his father a half-smile, but it almost instantaneously fell flat.

"Is there anything else, dad?" Callum asked quietly, looking towards the door, making it evident he wanted to leave to be by himself. Harrow's face slipped into a frown.

"That's everything, son." Callum nodded stiffly, before standing up and swiftly striding out of the room. Harrow's frown remained on his face until Callum had exited the room before a sly grin slipped onto his lips.

"Do you think it'll work?" A voice said from behind the King, startling him momentarily before he placed the voice. Harrow turned around to look at the throne, and just caught sight of a brunette afro poking out from behind it, a faint glow accompanying it. "Will Cal actually tell her about this?"

"I certainly hope so, Ez," Harrow answered, striding towards his youngest son and his pet glow toad, Bait, as Ezran stepped out from his hiding place. "For both of their sakes, I hope it does."

"What if it doesn't work?" Ezran asked, his lips pursed together in a worried line.

"Then we just come clean," Harrow answered. "Or I'll just lie again!" He joked, lightly nudging his youngest son's shoulder.

Ezran's face twisted into a concerned frown, as he scooped up Bait and held him close to his chest. "Do you reckon mom'll be mad when she finds out we did this?"

Harrow couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his throat. He gently ruffled Ezran's hair, turning the young prince's frown into a small smile.

"It was your mother's idea!"

Callum strode through the castle with what could have been perceived as purpose, from the outside, that is. Internally, the Mage was stewing, his father's revelation throwing him for a loop.

So as he had done for as long as he could remember, he headed to the garden, _his_ spot, under _his _tree. It had been his safety net for at least a decade, sitting there and sketching to distract his mind.

Eight years ago, the spot became even more prominent for Callum, and no longer his spot alone.

She had come into his life out of absolutely nowhere, initially just a tag-along to a highly important diplomatic mission. His life had never been the same since. She stepped into his life a complete stranger, and out of it a week later his best friend.

Callum scoffed slightly at his thoughts, a soft smile creeping onto his lips. They had barely spent more than two months _actually _in each other's company, spending all but one week of the year almost an entire continent apart. However, thanks to a gift from her uncle they managed to talk every day.

She had become Callum's safety net, his go-to contact whenever he was feeling stressed, anxious or under pressure, if he had any exciting news, she was the first to know.

When his tutor in Primal magic told him he had mastered Sky Magic, she was the first to know.

When he had studied the message mirror thoroughly enough to find a way for them to see each other when they spoke, he'd made sure to tell her instantly.

Nothing was too big or too small for her, she cared about everything, and it warmed Callum's heart.

A frown flickered onto his lips. She wouldn't like this, not one bit. When he'd first explained arranged marriages to her on her visit a couple of years previous, she had completely flipped out.

Callum had only previously seen her that irate when discussing Dark Magic. She may well get more angry about this than he was.

A sigh escaped his pursed lips as he approached the tree, carelessly tossing a glance out at the gorgeous array of vibrant, colourful flowers that encompassed the castle's gardens.

Callum knew in the back of his mind that it would more than likely come to an arranged marriage, but that didn't make it any easier to swallow.

There was strong peace between Katolis and Xadia, founded by the positive agreements made eight years previous. A mutual trust and respect had formed between both sets of monarchies and politicians, and subsequently, their people's.

But progress between the other human kingdoms and Xadia had been tougher going.

Duren was the most open to negotiation and seemed to be close to their own agreement with the eastern continent. Queens Annika and Neha were forward-thinking, open-minded, and well aware of the benefits that a formal agreement with Xadia could provide for their kingdom.

However, the other three members of the Pentarchy, Del Bar, Neolandia and Evenere, were far more stubborn towards negotiating.

Callum had heard rumours that each of the monarchs of those kingdoms, or their close ancestors, had lost loved ones in skirmishes with the elves, and that had born racist tendencies in the current rulers.

It made Callum wonder. What would his opinion of elves be if he'd lost somebody he loved? What stories would he have been told growing up? What misconceptions would he have formed?

Would he view them as bloodthirsty monsters?

He shook his head to clear these thoughts. His best friend was an elf, and he wouldn't change that for the world.

However, it was these diplomatic issues with the other human kingdoms that caused them to be separated for so long. As a prodigious member of the Dragon Guard, she was part of all of the political parties sent out to attempt peace negotiations. Thus meaning they only saw each other for one week at a time, on the annual celebration of formal peace between Katolis and Xadia.

Oh, how Callum had pleaded to be able to visit her in Xadia, but had been denied, informed that his princely studies took precedence.

Callum flopped down emphatically against the thick trunk of the tree, relishing the warming, tingling sensation of the midday sun beaming onto his face. It temporarily drove all the thoughts from his mind, and he basked in the momentary peace.

All until a tingling sensation from his satchel drew his attention, drawing a delighted smile onto his lips.

One of the conditions of the peace treaty between Katolis and Xadia was that Callum would be tutored in primal magic, and although he had only a connection to the Sky arcanum, he had extensive knowledge of all the other primals. It was through his learning of the Moon arcanum that he was able to enhance the message mirror he had been gifted at the age of ten.

Callum had been able to turn it into a two-way mirror, meaning he could verbally converse with and see her, no matter where she was. All they had to do was both draw a specific Moon rune onto the device, and the mirror would activate, almost like looking glass.

_I've got some news! Are you able to talk?_

Was the message that Callum had received, which caused the buzzing he had felt earlier. Initially, noticing the message had caused a bubbling feeling in Callum's stomach, but at the word _news_, his stomach twisted itself into knots, and a grimace leapt onto his face.

He _certainly _had news to share.

_Of course_, he scrawled back, before drawing the rune into the bottom right corner of the glass. To do so, he drew a square, with two flicks coming off the top line, and then three prongs inside the square, almost like the tip of a trident.

Once he had finished drawing the rune, it began to faintly pulse, and the device in his hand trembled with it. He couldn't help but smirk as she drew a small smiley face in response to his message before she scrawled over his rune.

Once she had copied the rune, the whole of the glass glowed brightly for a couple of seconds. After the light had died down, Callum forced a smile onto his face.

"Rayla!" He greeted, overenthusiastically greeting the elf on the other side of the image. Callum could tell she was in her room, with her message mirror propped up on her desk.

He knew this because the Moonshadow elf was currently pacing back and forth in front of her bed. Callum couldn't help but just observe her for a while.

She was in her usual outfit of green trousers, that were usually covered by her almost black dark blue, knee length boots, but she had forsaken them on this day. Her trousers were propped up on her waist by her brown belt, dual wrapped around her waist and fastened by a crescent moon shaped buckle. Rayla had also elected not to wear her black armoured shirt, and was only wearing her green vest, which rose high onto her neck with a heart-shaped pattern missing from the front of her neck. The vest was tight-fitting, revealing her muscular upper arms, as it was shoulderless, and her well-toned stomach. Her white hair was pulled into a tight, long singular braid, which was currently tucked over her right shoulder, and bounced up and down as she paced.

She seemed to be startled by the sound of Callum's voice, and she jumped slightly, and turned her wide violet eyes towards her mirror, but her demeanour swiftly switched to a delighted one.

"Hey, Cal!" She greeted, finishing her pacing and casually grabbing a nearby chair, swinging it in front of her, with the front of the back of the seat facing towards her, and in one motion, placing it down and plonking herself onto it. She folded her arms on top of the back of the chair and rested her chin on top of her arms, a vibrant smile on her face. "I've got some _amazing _news for ya!"

Callum smiled at her enthusiasm. But it couldn't quite reach his eyes, he prayed she wouldn't notice.

Of course, _she did_.

Rayla blinked a couple of times at his false response, lifting her head up in surprise at his distinct lack of happiness.

"And I'm guessing you don't have the same?" She added, her previous clear joy dilapidating at Callum's attempt to hide his distress. Callum let out a wry chuckle.

"You're right about that, but don't let me bring you down!" Callum replied with an attempt at a jokey tone, but it distinctly fell flat. Rayla's confused expression fell into a disheartened one.

"C'mon sad prince, talk to me," She coaxed, leaning her chin back onto her arms and tilting her head slightly to one side, with a tiny pout on her lips, in what Callum had dubbed her "puppy elf face."

In response, Callum let out a frustrated huff, and leant his head back against the tree trunk, glaring up at the sky. "Believe me, if I tell you, you're only going to get annoyed," he flicked his line of sight back to the mirror propped up on his knees. She shifted her head up again, this time leaning it onto the palm of her right hand.

"Well now I'm absolutely curious," Rayla responded. "If it's something that has you like this, then I definitely want to know - if only to cheer you up!"

This elicited a small smile from the anguished prince. "You've gotta promise not to get angry?" He prompted. Rayla immediately nodded.

"Me angry? Never!" Rayla quipped, before genuinely agreeing to Callum's terms.

He sighed once more, and closed his eyes, running his left hand through his hair. "So my dad called me to the Throne Room today," Callum started, opening his eyes, and tilting his head to the left to lean his cheek on his left palm, his elbow resting on his pulled up knee, and holding the message mirror with his right hand.

Rayla's eyebrow instantly quirked up. He had told her numerous times that King Harrow only called him to the Throne Room for a talk if it was something very important to his princely duties.

"I got ambushed by Lord Viren on the way there, and yes, he brought up marrying Claudia again," Callum continued, smirking slightly as Rayla rolled her eyes immediately at the mention of the High Mage.

"Will he ever drop that?" She queried rhetorically. "Surely he should get the point by now that it's up to your father if you get an arranged marriage?" Rayla quipped, keeping her tone jokey until she reached the last two words, where she physically couldn't keep the disgust from her voice.

Callum's face must've dropped dramatically, because Rayla's mien swiftly shifted into one of disbelief.

"T-That's the thing," Callum muttered, throat feeling particularly dry again. "From what my dad was telling me, it sounds like it might well be out of my hands. And his."

It came out so quietly, so hoarse that Callum was unsure whether Rayla, even with her superior elven hearing, had, in fact, heard him. The only indication that she had was a minor twitching of her ears, and a marginal shift of her expression, into something resembling thoughtful.

Callum attempted to clear his throat before speaking again, averting his gaze away from the mirror, and subsequently Rayla, looking down to his right, tilting his head slightly so his hair obscured his face somewhat.

"Dad said that he's under increasing political pressure about my marital situation," Callum added with a heavy sigh. "He managed to negotiate a deadline of a year. One year, Rayla!" Callum's voice suddenly rose dramatically in volume, anger creeping in. His face was in a firm scowl towards the floor, distinctly attempting to avoid looking at Rayla. "How on earth does anyone expect me to find somebody I'll want to spend the rest of my life within less than a _year_?! Or to agree to do that with someone I've _never met_?!"

Tears had started to prick at his eyes once more, as the realisation fully set in. Verbalising it to his best friend had set it in stone. There was no avoiding it anymore.

Callum's head lulled back against the trunk of the tree once again, and a couple of tears escaped his eyes as he shifted his gaze up to the sky.

"I know that as the heir to the Throne I'm fully expected to have a future Queen well before I'm coronated, but it just _sucks_."

Callum rubbed the tears from his eyes using his thumb and finger of his left hand, and let out a shaky breath, which sounded borderline like a humourless laugh. "Sorry, Ray," he apologised, squeezing his eyes shut tight under his fingertips to force out the last of the tears. "You wanted to tell me all about your news and here I am moaning about my _duties_," Callum shifted his head to rest it back on the palm of his left hand, finally looking back at the aforementioned Moonshadow elf, and he was somewhat surprised at what he saw. He was fully expecting her to be irritated or annoyed by his news, or at least sympathetic, but her expression was definitely _thoughtful_. Her brow was furrowed together, and there was a slight glaze across her eyes that indicated she was in deep thought.

But it was clear she'd heard him, she was looking directly at him. When Rayla finally acknowledged that Callum was finally looking at her again, her eyes flicked to the bottom of the message mirror, and she nodded her head somewhat as well, indicating that Callum should look there.

There was a heavy blush on Rayla's face as she did so, and she seemingly attempted to cover it with her hand. Callum's eyebrow rose at her peculiar behaviour, and when he followed her gesticulation to the bottom of his mirror, his heart almost stopped at what she'd written.

_What about me?_

Now it was Rayla's turn to avoid Callum's gaze, her desk suddenly becoming remarkably interesting, as his eyes bore into her. His mouth had flopped open, and he was gawking like a fish, attempting to formulate words.

"R-Rayla… D-do you me-?"

"Yes," she interrupted abruptly, still averting her eyes.

"You seriously mean yo-"

"Yes."

"Rayla, you'd be a prince-"

"Yes."

Callum couldn't help but frown at her behaviour. It was an incredibly selfless offer, to put all of what she'd worked for her entire life behind her to attempt to help Callum. But it was so out of the blue that it made Callum's head spin.

"Rayla, can you just let me talk a minute?" Callum requested firmly, his tone finally drawing her attention back to him. The look in her eyes made the heat rise to Callum's cheek.

It was a look of pure determination, as well as concern. But Callum had to be sure she knew what she was offering here.

"First of all, that's a… I don't even know what to say…" Callum said softly. "That's easily the nicest thing anyone has _ever _offered to do for me, but you have to know what this would mean."

Rayla's eyebrows quirked at how downtrodden and serious Callum's tone shifted halfway through his speech; from grateful and soft at the start to borderline diplomatic by the end of it.

"If you… if _we_...agreed to do this, you'd have to give everything up that you have worked so hard for at home," Callum started, rubbing his eyes tiredly before resting his chin back onto it, the pure spectrum of emotions he'd felt during the day taking its toll. "I couldn't ask you to do that for me," he added softly, his gratefulness evident in his tone. "You know how much I moan about my princely duties, and I _have _to do them, you don't. I would _not _want to burden you with this."

Callum immediately knew he'd said the wrong things. Rayla's demeanour didn't change much, but there was a slight movement of her ears, the tips slightly flopping down, the action causing immense guilt to flood his stomach.

He'd upset her.

"Callum…" Rayla began quietly, fiddling with her fingers, hands still resting on the back of her chair, her gaze dropped momentarily to observe her hands, before her violet eyes found his emerald ones once more. "Before I say anything else, I want you to answer a question for me."

"Of course, ask away."

"Would you rather spend your life with someone you don't know, or with me?"

Callum was shocked speechless for a moment, but his answer was immediate in his mind. "You."

Rayla smirked slightly. "Pro one," she added quietly, holding up a finger to match the number. "And I know all of the pressures you're under, believe me, I do, you moan to me about them enough," Rayla quipped, winking at Callum, causing his blush to deepen. Rayla's smirk drifted into its previous serious expression - a borderline frown. "But you're my best friend," her tone started to become rather emotional. "And I do not want to see you spend the rest of your life with someone you might despise. I do _not _want that for you," she repeated firmly, ensuring that they maintained eye contact, and her determination was enough to set Callum's pulse racing.

Rayla's demeanour softened dramatically, and her violet eyes sparkled, her mouth opened slightly as she attempted to speak. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before she swallowed deeply.

"I _want _to do this."

It came out barely above a whisper, but the statement was drenched with sincerity. They both flushed dramatically at her statement, and the sentiment it was laden with.

"I don't want to see you miserable with someone you don't love," Rayla added, just as quietly, but just as genuinely. Callum couldn't help but smile at Rayla. She was offering to go above and beyond anything he had ever expected when he broached this subject. He thought she would be angry with it, he thought she'd curse arranged marriages, and the disgusting prospect of marrying someone for political gain, and not love.

But here she was, offering herself to him, putting _his _happiness above hers, offering to give up her entire life's training thus far to help _him_.

What on earth had he done to deserve her as a best friend?

Callum frowned internally at his thought. A friend suddenly didn't seem to cut it anymore. What Rayla was offering to do, wasn't an act of friendship, even of a best friend. It was above and beyond anything that could've been expected of her.

And it caused some thoughts and feelings to fly through Callum. Thoughts and feelings that he wasn't a stranger to when it came to his Moonshadow elven best friend. He would often find himself lost in her. Mesmerised by her markings, her eyes, her gestures and inflexions, the way her ears would quirk with her mood and voice and facial expressions. Things he had, before this very moment, purely associated with their strong bond and immense friendship.

But all of a sudden, it seemed a whole lot more than that. The prospect of spending the rest of his life with her causing a shift in his perception of these moments, of the one he was in right now.

Callum's focus snapped back onto Rayla, who must've noticed his mind drifting, as she seemed to jump slightly at the intensity that flowed into Callum's previously glazed emerald eyes; eyes that abruptly seemed to sparkle.

Callum wanted to let himself get tugged away with the moment, with the emotions coursing through his veins, the images of potential futures with Rayla dancing across his mind, but he anchored himself for a moment, in an attempt to think clearly.

"What about the Dragon Guard? And all of your training?" Callum queried softly. His genuine concern for her, and his consideration for her training and the career path she had been following for as long as she could remember.

But a wry smirk slipped onto her lips.

"That's the news I had," Rayla quipped in a singsong tone. "I passed my last exam, and I'm now all set to graduate!" She exclaimed, her delight causing a beaming smile to flood onto Callum's lips.

"That's amazing, Ray! Congratulations!" He was just as enthusiastic in his congrats as Rayla was in her exclamation. Rayla's face softened, and she smiled affectionately at the young prince.

"Meaning, I can now do whatever I wish," Rayla added, her tone dripping with implications, as she raised her eyebrow in a subtle question. "I could become a politician in the Dragon Guard like my parents, I could become a guardian in the Dragon Guard like Runaan…"

Her eyes drifted around her room as she listed off the possibilities, before coming to fix firmly onto Callum's eyes, a smirk cracking onto her lips.

"Or, I could help out my dummy of a best friend, and become a princess."

Rayla managed to say it jokingly, but so calmly, that Callum couldn't help but believe that she fully understood what she was offering to do. He couldn't help but get drawn into the possibility of being with Rayla for the rest of his life. His cheeks flushed dramatically.

"Rayla, you're my absolute best friend, and I have absolutely no clue what I would do without you," Callum replied sincerely, his voice cracking slightly with emotion. Rayla's smirk shifted into a soft, fond smile, one that caused Callum's heart to race, and before he could reconsider, three words slipped from his lips.

"Let's do it."


End file.
